Month: September 2013
URM collaboration with TheHamper
Homelessness has a face…
And it might not be the face you imagine. It’s a mom struggling to feed her kids. A man who lost his job. It affects Mothers. Fathers. Sons. Daughters. Brothers. Sisters. It could be you or me. And it’s up to us all to help end the tragedy of homelessness.
For over 120 years, Union Rescue Mission has served men, women and children experiencing homelessness. URM provides comprehensive emergency and long-term services to their guest to help them escape the dangerous streets of Skid Row.
By purchasing a shirt this week from The Hamper, you are helping to provide meals, shelter and life-changing services to those who are experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. Bring hope and healing to a changed life – help someone find their way home today!
Visit www.thehamper.org to view the rest of the collection!
The Mission Newsletter – September 2013
Union Rescue Mission’s Chef Delilah knows that Thanksgiving is about more than great food – it’s about family.
All my life, I wanted to be a chef. I spent my childhood watching chefs like Paula Deen and Rachael Ray on TV, and I dreamed of one day hosting my own cooking show. I never dreamed of cooking meals on Skid Row.
So after high school, I pursued my dream and studied at the Cordon Bleu cooking school. Later, I catered food for the Twilight films, TV shows like True Blood and Desperate Housewives, and even for the Oscars and the Grammys! I was on my way!
But God had other plans. In April 2011, Union Rescue Mission invited me to cook full-time for men, women, and children experiencing homelessness. Tiring of the instability of catering work, I thought, Sure. Why not?
Skid Row didn’t intimidate me – but suddenly having to prepare meals for 2,000 people per day sure did! At first, it was hard to keep up. I’d never worked so hard. But that was nothing compared to Thanksgiving – and the prospect of serving 4,000 people at one time!
I’d never spent Thanksgiving with people experiencing homelessness.
I didn’t know what to expect. Thanksgiving was always one of the best days of the year in my family – the food, the laughter, the hugs, and the family bonding. What would it be like on Skid Row?
There was so much food to prepare, we had to start a week before. We baked pasta, prepared yams, mixed gravy, and made stuffing. I cooked almost 100 turkeys in five hours – it was crazy! The final two days leading up to our Thanksgiving event, I never went to bed. As guests showed up to eat, I worked in the kitchen. My back hurt, my feet ached, I was covered in sweat. But I still had no idea how the event was going.
Finally, about 3:00 p.m., my boss said, “Let’s go look.” It was unbelievable. The decorations, the music and happiness – thousands of people who may have been struggling in their personal lives, but today they were family. And I thought, Yeah, this is what it’s all about.
Now, Thanksgiving is already around the corner again, and I’m already looking forward to it – even the exhaustion, pain, and adrenaline. But more important, I’m looking forward to family. Yes, the men, women, and children at Union Rescue Mission are my family now.
This Thanksgiving, you ask me what I’m grateful for? Serving here. There was a time I worked in the midst of all the glitter and glamour of Hollywood. Now I can’t see myself working anywhere but Skid Row.
Help make this year’s Thanksgiving our best one ever with your generous gift today!
Chef Delilah is not only a first-class cook, her personality lights up the room. She helped make last year’s Thanksgiving our best celebration ever!
Every year at Thanksgiving, we invite more than 4,000 men, women, and children experiencing homelessness into our “home” for a special party, complete with all the hugs, love, and laughter that make this a true “family” event.
I think it’s this “family” spirit that makes our Thanksgiving celebrations so remarkable. Time and time again, I hear hurting men and women tell me that was the day that convinced them to give life another try.
But our Thanksgiving isn’t possible without caring people like you. So as we approach the season, thank you for being part of this big, extraordinary family!
Blessings,
Aunt Sweetie
“Monday at the Mission” Celebrates its 3rd Anniversary!
“You are special now,”
“Not a year from now, not when you are older, not yesterday, you are special— now.”
Christopher Kai opened up the 3rd anniversary of URM’s Teen Life Skills class with an encouragement that every teen struggling with homelessness needs to hear; in fact, it is what we ALL need to hear. Our identity should not be wrapped around our titles, our salaries, or our successes—but who are intrinsically. And that’s what makes us special.
We went around introducing every single student and volunteer and applauded them. The exercise was clear—even if it was for a brief moment each teen gets to be recognized as one with worth, and that small realization can go a long way living in the merciless streets of Skid Row.
Christopher then took us through the history of URM and the Life Skills class with an array of numbers.
122 — The number of years URM has been around
127 — The number of Teen Life Skills classes
107 — The number of unique speakers at the class
59 — The number of careers that have been represented
16 — The number of the different states the volunteers are from
13 — The number of countries represented from the volunteers
1 — The reason why the volunteers all come is to help, to guide, to inspire.
And what’s a celebration without food?
One of the volunteers had donated a delicious catered dinner for all the teens and volunteers! Included in the meal were salads, potstickers, chicken wings, and what one teen would describe as a “fancy” cookie.
One of the other highlights of the night came in the words of a former student. She got up in front of the class and began to tell us about her journey since her first life skills class three years ago. She shared that just because you were homeless in middle school doesn’t mean your life is over. Her life has had its ups and downs, but Christopher Kai and the other volunteers had changed her—she now had a vision for her future.
She ended with this poem she wrote.
“Knock Knock,
who’s there?
It’s Christopher Kai, I’m here to save your life.”
I hope to see this class celebrating its 5th year anniversary soon.