We are about to enter into our 125th year of serving people experiencing homelessness on Skid Row in Los Angeles.
This year will be a very special one, as we are moving ahead in adding 13 units at Hope Gardens to assist 13 more moms & their children in overcoming homelessness. These 13 units will serve a special role as they will be a safety net for children of moms’ who may take a bit longer or may not ever overcome the obstacles keeping them without a home of their own.
Other plans for Hope Gardens include paying off the $3.6 million dollar mortgage, making the elevators operational in all buildings & we may build small homes on vacant land & more units for our Senior Ladies.
At Union Rescue Mission we are ready to retrofit all 3 elevators & make other needed capital improvements.
Next year’s plans also call for a URM satellite out of Skid Row as we continue our strategic plan to multiply hope, regionalize services, & bring an end to the tragedy that is Skid Row.
We are off to a good start on all of these new plans but none can proceed without a good finish to 2015.
This good finish is complicated by El Niño & the now cold weather that has come early & the expected cold & wet storms predicted in our near future.
We’ve added 140 cots downtown & these cots have been utilized for 223 days in a row. With the worst of the storms on the way, we may need to add 250 more cots or even find a satellite location now rather than later to get everyone out of harms way. These are added costs not planned in our budget & that is why we need your help.
We need to not only meet our budget of $3.7 million in December alone, but we need to surpass the budget to keep up with the added costs of serving our precious guests in our cold & wet weather cots. Welcoming them at this critical moment could quite possibly put them on the path home to a transformed life.
Take a moment to give a life saving life changing gift of any amount at urm.org by December 31st to help URM finish 2015 strong & roll into 2016 with great momentum.
Every gift given by midnight December 31st will be matched/doubled.
Thank you, Andy B
Hello. I have two girls. My wish for 2016 is to have a housing for my two girls. We been homeless for long time. Please help me.
I’m so sorry I’m just now seeing this. If you haven’t found something already, please give the Mission a call to set up time with a Case Manager – (213) 347-6300. They should be able to help.