Dear Friends,
As we come to the end of the month, we would like to share just a few of the activities that have been keeping us busy here at URM! From serving record numbers of people, to running winter shelters to planning a special event for our guests, the last few weeks have been action packed. Please take a moment to watch this quick update on what we are accomplishing with the help of friends like you!
Blessings,
Dear Friends,
I’m compelled to weigh in on “the letter” circulating around the community and apparently headed toward Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s desk.
I received the letter, and was invited to sign on in agreement with the conclusions and corresponding actions it outlines. Instead of signing on, I alerted some LAPD commanders to what I believe to be yet another attempt by some to remove the helpful police presence from Skid Row, and return this area many of us have worked so hard to change back to the deprived, predator & drug infested hopeless state it was in less than a decade ago — depicted so accurately in the tragic scenes featured in “The Soloist”.
Among the disturbing sentiments made in the letter is the statement that since crime has been reduced by 33% on Skid Row, it is therefore time to move police away from Skid Row and to more dangerous parts of our city. The police presence is the reason for this crime reduction and an absence of police would be followed by a return to lawlessness. As it is, there is still far too much crime and violence on Skid Row, especially against women, and some of the crime has moved into the permanent-supportive housing projects of some of the letter’s signers. There have been documented cases in the last year where leaders of gangs heading up drug sales move in, take over several apartments, require residents to package and sell drugs under the threat of violence. And it has been reported by reputable sources that some leaders of these housing groups actually dissuade their employees from reporting the crimes or cooperating with police.
I have met people on the street, displaced from their permanent-supportive housing units by the violence inside of these poorly managed complexes. When we gathered for the annual memorial of those who had died on the streets of Skid Row, the longest list of names of those who died came from within these permanent supportive housing complexes. Don’t get me wrong. I am all for permanent-supportive housing for the people most impacted and devastated by years of homelessness, but we need well-managed, safe permanent supportive housing complete with the much needed services that will help people live a hope filled life. That is not possible when gangs and drug sellers are allowed to occupy the housing units, and it will take a continued strong police presence to keep Skid Row and the housing units safe.
I do agree with this statement in the letter;
“First, SCI should shift towards community policing. The police on Skid Row should engage residents in a partnership aimed at developing solutions to problems and increasing trust in the police.”
I am all for this kind of engagement, and partnership with police and residents to develop solutions. However, it is unfortunate and insincere of some of the writers to ask for this shift of engagement, partnership and development of solutions when they have unfairly criticized, exaggerated the facts, and even dissuaded their own residents and staff from reporting crime and cooperating with the police.
I also take issue with another statement in the letter;
“Second, policing should focus on serious crime, and stop issuing routine citations for such petty offenses as jaywalking, littering, and loitering.”
Jaywalking is dangerous for all, and especially deadly for those who’ve been left on the streets. The writers should better study the “Broken Windows” approach to policing that has helped bring about the transformation on Skid Row. I wish this effective approach would be taken in my own neighborhood, where illegal parking goes unchecked, leads to drug sales, and eventually violence and shootings. Are the writers already forgetting that it was two of LAPD’s officers on horseback, stopping and apprehending the killer of beautiful young Lily Burk because he was drinking in public on the streets of Skid Row? In the words of Deputy Chief Sergio Diaz of the LAPD, “Samuel was seen drinking beer on a Skid Row street and arrested for investigation of possessing narcotics paraphernalia because he allegedly had a crack cocaine pipe” Diaz said.
One of the final requests of the writers of the letter has already begun in a strong way;
“Third, SCI should prioritize connecting residents to services.”
Agencies like Volunteers of America, PATH, Union Rescue Mission, Midnight Mission, the Weingart Center and others have already been active in an SOS program that provides the option for the residents of Skid Row and other neighborhoods who have been arrested to choose a 21 day program instead of jail time. The LAPD and City Attorney’s office have been active players in this option as well.
I am one of the few social service heads to join the LAPD in their community policing and time after time I have seen them assist people in need with appropriate services, from expectant moms to whole families to men ready to give life another try, the LAPD often refers people to the help they need.
I will say it one more time, the LAPD has done and is doing their part to clean up the streets of downtown LA and to transform Skid Row, but their part is only about 10% of what needs to be done. The rest of the transformation lies on the shoulders of the social service providers and the politicians, those who wrote and received “the letter”. We need to step up our efforts to provide the resources to build more housing opportunities and services throughout LA, regionalize the solution to homelessness, and after we’ve built the housing, provide the supportive services and management to sustain it and move towards the day when not one precious person will be left on the streets of our city.
As always, I welcome your comments and feedback and pray that those who can will join us in the fight to end homelessness as we know it in Los Angeles. Click here to send a message directly to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urging him to maintain the police presence on Skid Row.
Sincerely,
Rev. Andy Bales
The January 2010 Edition of “The Mission” newsletter is now available! Please click here to subscribe.
Congratulations to the URM Men’s Basketball Team on being the Skid Row Basketball Champions for the 2009-2010 season!
“Every member of the team played in the championship game,” says Coach Carl Williams. “Our team went through early growing pains plus we lost two key players as well. We never stopped praying and trying to win every game. My main goal was to play individuals who commit to the philosophy of team. I always tell my team, “Never give up and never quit.” Even my young sons Zachary and Izayah know that quote very well. In life, things may start out rough but God has a plan for your life. The plan can only materialize if you never give up and never quit.”
The championship game was held Wednesday, January 20th at 7:00pm here at Union Rescue Mission’s gym. Although the opposing “Skid Row Street Ballers” played a tough game, our guys outplayed them for a 56 -44 win!
Union Rescue Mission (URM) and our international partner, Giving Children Hope recently sent much needed medicines to Haiti which will be distributed by UM PROJECT MEDISHARE and the 1st & ALTON GROUP. The shipment has been received and has a US value of $1,156,362, but it is priceless in Haiti due to the poor living conditions that include contaminated drinking water, insufficient food, exposure to the weather and the presence of many dead and injured.
Included in this shipment were anti-diarrheal, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic, rehydration medications and vitamins that have been sent in time to save Haitian lives. These medicines are being used to help prevent another disaster of illnesses that often follows a disaster such as the earthquake in Haiti which has already claimed many lives.
If you wish to make a donation to offset the expense of sending this shipment to Haiti, please click on our donate link below and make a donation to help Union Rescue Mission recover its expenses. God moved us to act first and ask for your help after we shipped the aid because we recognized the tremendous need, and because we have faith that you will provide financial help for this cause in the name of Jesus.
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In 2007, we opened our Hope Gardens Family Center to get women with children and senior ladies off the streets of Skid Row. At Hope Gardens, mothers are able to learn life skills, earn their GED’s or enroll in college courses, and learn money management skills so they are prepared to move out on their own, and children are able to just be kids without the dangers and pressures of street life. Kasha is one of 34 moms at Hope Gardens that needed a place to put her life back together and had the courage to put the past behind and start a new life. After struggling with a meth addiction for 17 years, she was able to get her sons back and keep a job; she is now hopeful for the future and looks forward to living in her own apartment with her boys!
Blessings,
Last Wednesday night’s basketball game was one for the record books. Union Rescue Mission’s Men’s Basketball team played an exciting game against last year’s championship team, Blue Byou. Our team demonstrated heart and a never give up attitude to pull of the win!
Both teams played their best game of the season, with the lead changing constantly. We were down by six points with just two minutes remaining in the game. Then, we made two 3-point baskets to tie the game. With the ball in Blue Byou’s hands, everyone was on the edge of their seats! In the end, our free-throws and man-on-man defense proved to be the difference in the game. The final score was URM: 51 and Blue Byou: 50.
This Wednesday, January 20th, we will play in the Championship Game against the “Street Ballers” at 7:00pm. Everyone is welcome to come out and show your support!
The team is lead by Coach Carl Williams and the team members include:
G – Joseph Baptist
G – DeAndre Brinson
F – Damian Harrison
C – Dee Harrison
F – Phillip Craig
G – Daniel Zeron
G – Chris Gray
G – Navar McCullen
F – Brian Fish
G – Sergio Mirtzine
F – Troy Hall
F – Americus Jones
Thanks to Biola University Photography students Lindsey Minerva and Emily Agenjo for the great pictures
A friend of mine asked me about Haiti and Pat Robertson’s claim that Haiti had signed a pact with the Devil. While I do not believe Mr. Robertson’s unfortunate claim, I have seen evidence in Haiti that Satan is alive and well. I attribute that to a lack of hope, a tremendous lack of opportunity, a lack of basic infrastructure, structure, and weak greedy leadership.
During a mission trip to Haiti in 1999, I learned that in desperation, all of the fruit trees had been eaten bare, many of the trees had been burned as firewood for warmth and there were no birds because they had been eaten too. Aid to the Government from other countries had been pocketed by greedy leaders instead of invested into working water systems, electric plants, or sewer systems and people were often on the edge of all-out riot in response to the difficulty they were living in. When we traveled we would see tires being placed in the road and lit on fire to protest the conditions and the lack of government response. We learned that many of the men had several wives and households, and they would sit and play dominoes while the women and children went hungry or depended on charity as there were not many prospects for employment. I tried to use an outhouse at the Missionary compound that we stayed in and when I walked in it was filled with large tarantulas-over 100. I did not stay to use the facilities! I saw evidence of voodoo worship throughout my visit, Mardi Gras parades filled with raucous crowds and violence, and at one point I was even threatened by 10 spear wielding men who had painted themselves with tar and colorful paint. I still have the video. It was a very scary, hopeless place that appeared to be on the edge of violence at all times.
Recent news reports from Anderson Cooper on CNN show that not much has changed since my trip in 1999. Haiti is so troubled that while thousands of people were trying to rest in an open park, others were screaming, “Flood, Tsunami” causing the poor resting souls to panic, run, and drop what little goods they had. Then the opportunists would run in and take the dropped precious goods.
Haiti reminds me of the condition Skid Row LA was in when I arrived, but on a much larger scale. When I came to Skid Row there were over 2000 desperate people on the streets and Commander Andy Smith of the LAPD described it as Mardi Gras on crack. Skid Row had not signed a pact with Satan, but was severely lacking hope, opportunity, structure and strong selfless leadership. The change brought about on Skid Row through the investment of resources, the Safer-Cities Initiative of the LAPD, the building of new permanent supportive housing, the renewed outreach efforts, our own welcoming of over 600 more guests into URM, and some self-less leadership gives me hope that things can change in Haiti, even after this devastating earthquake.
What I learned early on in my work in difficult neighborhoods, Haiti, and Skid Row LA is that the desperation, misery, hopelessness, and even destructive behaviors present were not caused by the sins of the people in these areas, but the sins of all.
Romans 3:23 (NIV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
This includes Pat Robertson and me! Most folks on Skid Row LA have been abandoned and forgotten by the world. Some have actually been dumped on the streets by others, including hospitals! Others were born into circumstances without opportunity and were never given a chance of success, while many of us took every opportunity to care for ourselves and not look back. This is true regarding the world’s relationship with Haiti as well. Likewise, I left Haiti in 1999 and did not have the courage or wherewithal to return to try to offer hope and change things. This is more a reflection of me and the rest of the world’s shortcomings than the people of Haiti.
If we leave one precious person on the streets of Skid Row, or if we turn our back on the people of Haiti, in their time of need, the sin and shame of that will be on us.
Charity alone will not change things. Charity alone has left the people on Skid Row and in Haiti dependent on others for daily sustenance just to survive. We must move beyond that. We at URM are pursuing the creation of a grocery store, business center, and the building of additional housing on Skid Row, in a pursuit of our 3 year goal to cut the number of people living on the street of skid row by 90%. We need to have a holy discontent and not tolerate one precious human being left on the streets of our city. We need to have that same holy discontent and no longer tolerate the conditions that the beautiful precious people of Haiti are living in. Before this devastating quake, 80% were living below poverty, 50% were illiterate, and they were living 5 persons to a room. I can’t even imagine the conditions or numbers now. This is the time to take action and make sure that no one in our hemisphere has to tolerate these unbearable living conditions.
Like we are seeing on Skid Row, the transformation of Haiti will take someone, some entity to come in with capital invested in opportunities that will both provide servant leadership, needed resources, and the hiring of the people themselves to build the needed homes and services. Haiti needs someone to come in with resources, hire the Haitian people, and build affordable safe housing, electrical and water infrastructures, and restore the food infrastructure.
Despite the despair and hopelessness I witnessed during my trip to Haiti, what has stayed in my mind is the tremendous beauty of the people and the hope, courage and strength they possessed.
I am compelled by Jesus Christ and the Gospel to do all I can to act now to help these precious ones. My heartfelt prayer is that many will join me. Together, we can bring hope to their land.
Job 31:16-40 (NIV)
16 “If I have denied the desires of the poor or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
17 if I have kept my bread to myself, not sharing it with the fatherless–
18 but from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my birth I guided the widow–
19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a garment,
20 and his heart did not bless me for warming him with the fleece from my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, knowing that I had influence in court,
22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let it be broken off at the joint.
23 For I dreaded destruction from God, and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.
24 “If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, ‘You are my security,’
25 if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained,
26 if I have regarded the sun in its radiance or the moon moving in splendor,
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
28 then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.
29 “If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune or gloated over the trouble that came to him–
30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin by invoking a curse against his life–
31 if the men of my household have never said, ‘Who has not had his fill of Job’s meat?’–
32 but no stranger had to spend the night in the street, for my door was always open to the traveler–
33 if I have concealed my sin as men do, by hiding my guilt in my heart
34 because I so feared the crowd and so dreaded the contempt of the clans that I kept silent and would not go outside
35 (“Oh, that I had someone to hear me! I sign now my defense–let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
36 Surely I would wear it on my shoulder, I would put it on like a crown.
37 I would give him an account of my every step; like a prince I would approach him.)–
38 “if my land cries out against me and all its furrows are wet with tears,
39 if I have devoured its yield without payment or broken the spirit of its tenants,
40 then let briers come up instead of wheat and weeds instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
Isaiah 58:6-12 (NIV)
6 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
Blessings,
Rev. Andy Bales & Team
Most days the Union Rescue Mission is bustling with people and activities – people coming and going all day long looking for supportive services. But on December 10th, 2009, the ground floor of the Union Rescue Mission (URM) was even more active than usual – full to the brim with guests, volunteers, local partner agencies, helpful staff, and a whole host of new Skid Row neighbors experiencing homelessness.
On this day, URM joined with many of our city, county and private partners to host the Project Homeless Connect Day (PHC) 2009, in alliance with the National Initiative coordinated by the White House Interagency Council on Homelessness. The purpose of this LA County sponsored event was to bring together service providers, agencies and other local organizations to provide housing, hospitality, information, health-care and many other invaluable services for friends in the midst of homelessness. PHC is not only a service fair, or an information and referral event, it is an innovative one-day *consumer-focused* one-stop.
Our downtown site hosted a large-scale collaboration of over 40 downtown Los Angeles area service providers, service organizations, businesses and residents to provide area homeless and working poor access to the assistance they need to become self-sufficient and to ultimately obtain affordable housing. At our downtown site, we served over 700 guests, with the help of over 280 volunteers and community friends. Services included legal aid, service referrals, medical attention, flu shots, mammograms, birth certificates, ID cards and transitional housing. Practical needs were met as well by providing hygiene kits, warm blankets, bus tokens, free books, and a hot lunch, all in a fun atmosphere with plenty of musical entertainment throughout the day.
Project Homeless Connect 2009 was a great success – uniting our downtown community, strengthening our partnerships, sharing our gifts and providing much-needed services to bless those who we have the privilege of serving. Special thanks to everyone who pitched in and served so joyfully that day. We couldn’t have done it without you!
Here is part of our Statistics Report for December 2009 so you can see how many lives we touch with the help of our wonderful volunteers, donors, and sponsors!
Key December 2009 Stats (Compared to December 2008)
*URM= Union Rescue Mission
*WSP= Winter Shelters – Downtown, Glendale, Culver City, and West LA
*HG= Hope Gardens Family Center
Meals Served:
URM: 92,369 avg/day: 2980 6% increase
WSP: 39,548 avg/day: 1276 (no 2008 data)
HG: 10,800 avg/day: 348 (same)
Total: 134,699 avg/day: 4345
Nights of Shelter:
URM: 31,728 avg: 1023 43% increase
WSP: 15,397 avg: 497 (no 2008 data)
HG: 3,866 avg: 125 15% increase
Total: 50,991 avg: 1645
Children:
URM: 2767 avg: 89 33% increase
HG: 2229 avg: 72 28% increase
Total: 4996 avg: 161 31% increase
Project Restart Families: avg: 15 families/night
*family defined as mother-father-child(ren) or single father-child(ren)
Quick Facts:
We are caring for 15 of these precious families every night – most are experiencing homelessness for the very first time due to the economy.
$128.71 will help provide food, shelter and care for a family of 4 for one day.
$900.97 will help us care for one of our families for an entire week.
Union Rescue Mission has life transformation programs to serve the needs of men and women and families who want to break the cycle of homelessness for good.
$56.58 will help provide a day of care for one of the brave men or women who have entered our life transformation programs.
$396.06 will help provide a week of food, shelter and the training and counseling necessary for a successful and lasting transformation.
$100.00 will help provide emergency services for a family of 3.
$ 257.60 will help provide an entire week of meals (dinner and a sack lunch for the next day) for 10 winter shelter guests.
