Month: December 2009
Great News Worth Passing On!
What great news!
Thanks to a generous friend of Union Rescue Mission we are closer than ever to raising the $500,000 we need to fully fund our budget in the final days of what has been the most challenging year in our history. Each gift we receive between now and midnight on December 31st will be matched up to $200K! Please make your year end donation today and share this opportunity (Click the buttons below to post to facebook or Twitter) to double the impact of a year end gift with others.
Blessings on you,
2,260 Subway Sandwiches Served at URM!
Thanks to 100 volunteers from Subway restaurants, URM residents enjoyed delicious Subway sandwiches for lunch on Tuesday, December 22nd.
Subway restaurants have been great supporters of URM. This year they also helped raise about $14,000 to help with our Christmas Store!
Some of the leaders from Subway even joined us in our tradition of ‘ringing the bell’ to celebrate donations received; they have been strongly supporting Union Rescue Mission for 14 years!
Thank you, Subway, for all you do- you are greatly appreciated!
Subway to serve 2,000 Sandwiches
MEDIA ALERT – For Immediate Release
CONTACT: Kitty Davis-Walker
(213) 673-4585 or (213) 507-5562
Email: kwalker@urm.org
SUBWAY RESTAURANTS JOIN THE UNION RESCUE MISSION WITH
TOY DRIVE FUND-RAISER AND HOLIDAY MEAL SERVICE FOR THE HOMELESS
LOS ANGELES CALIF. – —– On Tuesday, December 22, 2009 Volunteers from Los Angeles-area SUBWAY restaurants will once again work with the Union Rescue Mission in down town Los Angeles to serve a meal and help brighten the lives of men, women and children experiencing homelessness during the Holiday Season.
For the 13th consecutive year, Subway volunteers will prepare and serve ham and turkey sandwiches for the homeless on skid row in Los Angeles. The annual Subway volunteer effort serves approximately 2, 000 meals. To date, Subway volunteers have served over 25,000 meals during this annual giving event. This year’s Subway volunteer meal service will take place on Tuesday, December 22nd at the Union Rescue Mission. Preparations begin at 9:00 a.m. with meals served from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
In addition to the annual volunteer meal service, Los Angeles-area Subway store owners conducted a fundraiser and collected over $16,000 to benefit the Union Rescue Mission’s annual toy program for underprivileged children. Approximately 1,000 families will be invited to shop for Free toys and gifts for their children at the Missions 18th Annual Christmas Store. The (URM) Christmas Store is open to participants in the Mission’s programs as well as to a select group of organizations helping people who are experiencing homelessness and poverty in the Skid Row community.
The Union Rescue Mission (URM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving people who are experiencing homelessness, providing emergency services, comprehensive prevention and rehabilitation programs to break the cycle of poverty. (URM) is the nations largest and L.A.’s oldest rescue mission. Services for women and children, in particular have been expanded to meet the needs of this fastest-growing segment of the population experiencing homelessness. On any given night, more than 10,000 families and 18,000 children are without food or shelter in Los Angeles County.
The Union Rescue Mission receives no government funding and is solely supported through the generosity of individuals, foundations and corporations. (URM) is located at 545 South San Pedro Street, in Downtown L.A., 90013.
For information about URM please visit the website urm.org or contact: Kitty Davis-Walker (213) 673-4585 or Shaeideh Prince at (213) 347-6352.
Wasabi Dare Brings in $50 Donation!
On Thursday, CEO Andy Bales was out to lunch for sushi and decided to challenge a friend to eat a heaping spoonful of wasabi for $20. Well, the challenge came back at him for $50, and he accepted. The video below was taken of him successfully completing the dare – and he was kind enough to donate the money to URM!
Disney Volunteers Deck the (Dining) Halls!
For the past two weeks, volunteers from various departments at Disney have given their time to helping out here at URM! They have spent 8 days working very hard in our kitchen. One of the kitchen staff said, “It’s really been great having them volunteering this week – they’ve helped out so much!” Disney also spent a day decorating our Dining Hall, so it is now filled with Christmas spirit every time guests come in to eat!
In addition, they even sponsored and hosted a Christmas Party for the kids at URM! It was a fun-filled event, with a carnival, music, treats and lots of dancing!
Thank you, Disney, for your continued support – we appreciate all you’ve done for us!
Annual Christmas Store Opening Up!
UNION RESCUE MISSION to hold 18th Annual CHRISTMAS STORE
ON DECEMBER 18TH & 19TH
“1,000 Families In Need Invited to Shop for Free”
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. (December 18 & 19, 2009) — More than 2,000 children will receive Christmas gifts this year after their parents shop for presents at the Union Rescue Mission’s (URM) 18th Annual Christmas Store starting on Friday, December 18 at 9:00 a.m. to closing at 6:00 p.m. and again on Saturday, December 19 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at URM headquarters located at 545 South San Pedro St. in downtown Los Angeles.
Union Rescue Mission CEO, Andy Bales, said “It’s our joy to provide an opportunity for a unique shopping experience to 1000 families that might otherwise miss out on the joy of personally giving gifts to their children at Christmas”.
URM, and the Missions offsite facility for mothers and children, Hope Gardens Family Center as well as neighboring missions and service providers helping children and families on Skid Row will be invited to shop free of charge. With so many families in need this year, our goal for 2009 is to provide enough gifts to meet the needs of 1000 families. These families will be given tickets to shop for Christmas gifts in the Mission’s Christmas Store.
Mothers and fathers will be assisted by volunteers to pick one toy or gift for each of their children ages infant through 17 years. They will then be assisted in wrapping the gifts in the department store like atmosphere. While parents shop, kids will experience a visit to our Kid Zone where they will enjoy holiday crafts, games, and treats and also shop for their parents in their own special store.
Each Year URM’s Annual Christmas Store is made possible through the generosity of private donors, and partnering corporations and companies like Verizon, SUBWAY restaurants, Shea Homes and ERA Realtors to name a few.
Schedule of Events:
- Moms begin Shopping for their children…………………………9:30 a.m.
- Children retreat to Kid Zone….…………………………………..9:30 a.m.
ALL MEDIA are encouraged to attend.
Union Rescue Mission is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving people experiencing homelessness. Established in 1891, URM is one of the largest rescue missions of its kind in the United States and the oldest in Los Angeles. It provides a comprehensive array of emergency and long-term services, including food, shelter, clothing, medical and dental care, Christian recovery programs, transitional housing, legal assistance, education, counseling, and job training to needy men, women, children, and families. For more information please visit our website at urm.org
Toy Drive Race Held at Crystal Park R/C Raceway
On December 5th and 6th, the Crystal Park R/C Raceway in Compton, CA hosted a Support Union Rescue Mission Toy Drive Race! Miss Keesha Sharp was our special guest, and along with all the racers made it a very fun event. It definitely will make this Christmas extra-special for all the kid’s that call Union Rescue Mission home this holiday season.
Special thanks to Crystal Park R/C Raceway, Andy Bales, Keesha Sharp, Don Nose, James Rees, and Jeremiah Johnson for their help with this event and continued support of Union Rescue Mission.
For more information on how you can get involved with Special Supportive events, pease contact Jeremiah Johnson at (213) 347-6300 ext 2225 or email jjohnson@urm.org
Paris Hilton to Host Shopping Extravaganza for URM
Paris and Nicky Hilton have teamed up with West Third Street boutique House of Petro Zillia to benefit Union Rescue Mission! Thursday, December 17th, from 7pm-10pm, the sisters will be hosting the shopping extravaganza; proceeds of all sales will be donated to URM.
Thank you to Paris and Nicky Hilton, who continue to support URM, and to House of Petro Zillia for taking part in this great event!
The High Cost of Heartache
A wise young man was in my office the other day. We had a great chat, and he invited me to an interesting event that is a new concept – An Idea Camp. He asked me to consider talking about the high cost of being in a position like mine, as CEO of Union Rescue Mission. I instantly thought about what I could share:
- the cost of time-24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
- the price my family has paid over the years because of my commitment
- the cost to my health as I often worry and fret too much about finances
- with that, the cost of feeling the load to keep employees on the job
This is just a start to the list of the high cost of being in charge that I will share at the Idea Camp, but the highest cost came this weekend. That is the high cost of heartache. While I was away over the weekend, visiting my 15 month old grandson, I received a call that one of our original pioneer Seniors, Mary Jane, who moved into Hope Gardens on August 8th, 2006, and not only changed her own life, but helped secure Hope Gardens to receive our single moms with children later in June of 2007, had lost a long struggle with cancer. Shortly after this call, I received word that one of our former young residents had lost their life in a tragic incident in their own home. Today, I received word that one of our moms will enter into treatment for a serious, life threatening ailment, and her children will need to go into foster care just before the Christmas Holiday.
Our team had some moments of silence, tears, and prayer this morning as we met and reflected on the weekend and week’s events. One of the leaders around the table had called me during all of this and said, “I guess when I signed up for this I didn’t consider that it would sometimes involve domestic abuse, other forms of violence, and even death.
Yet, when you decide to work on Skid Row among sometimes very desperate people, that is exactly what you sign up for. That decision to work among and love people right in their desperate situations does come at a high cost. The high cost of heartache.
The good news is that with that high cost and high investment comes high returns. More often than not, in fact 65 % of the time, we see total life transformations. For me, those kinds of returns are worth the cost, and help me cope with tragic losses and the heartbreak that comes with those losses.