In late 2007, Krysta hit her proverbial rock bottom with a thud. After a lifetime of instability, abuse, chaos, and drugs, the 27-year-old single mom left her kids with family and called Canyon Country Park, in Santa Clarita, “home.” She spent the next year in yet another abusive relationship, sleeping on the wet ground or in cars, and staying high to avoid the hunger and the misery.

“In some ways, summer was the hardest,” she recalls. “It’s so hot. Our skin felt on fire. The soles of our shoes wore out from the heat. We walked everywhere, carrying all our stuff, so we were constantly dehydrated. It was a constant struggle to stay cool or find water, because when people see you’re homeless, they often don’t want to help you.”

In many ways, “struggle” defined Krysta’s life since childhood. Her entire family struggled with drug addiction, and domestic violence was the norm. At 16, Krysta had the first of her five children, dropped out of school, and spent the next 12 years continuing this abusive norm in her relationships. She was beaten to the point of hospitalization. She was choked and raped. At one point, she and her children were chased down the streets and almost run off the freeway. Abuse, violence, and drugs were all she knew.

But by the end of 2008, she knew one more thing: Everything about her life had to change. She left the park where she was living, got sober, and then she moved to Hope Gardens with her kids.

“I was like a baby being born again,” Krysta says. “I was determined to never put myself or my kids through this again. Hope Gardens gave me stability for the first time in my life,’’ she adds. She experienced counseling and healing. She learned about healthy relationships and gained important life skills to rebuild her life. She eventually earned her GED, and later, a college degree. And today, she’s come full circle. Krysta serves as program director for the Domestic Violence Program of the Child and Family Center in Santa Clarita, helping women just like her build new lives for themselves.

“Hope Gardens saves lives,” she says. “My kids and I owe our lives to everyone who supports this place. My mother owes her life to them, too, because she got sober when she saw how my life changed. And now, all the women and families I’m helping—they owe their lives to Hope Gardens donors, too. It just goes on and on,’’ Krysta says.

The streets are no place for mothers and children. Yet today, women and children make up 40% of all people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.

Union Rescue Mission is the only Mission in Los Angeles that accepts single mothers or fathers with children, intact families, and even families with teenaged boys. But costs and challenges that come with helping these families get back on their feet can be overwhelming. These young families need counseling, life skills, childcare, greater safety precautions, transportation to schools, additional health care, and other supportive services. Thanks to caring people like you, Union Rescue Mission is meeting these challenges. Last year, we helped 1,100 families, including about 2,500 children, escape homelessness. Here are just some of the services you help provide:

• Onsite therapy
• Life-skills education
• Financial and job training
• Educational and social support
• Child care
• Three daily meals
• Access to medical and dental care
• Transportation
• Onsite tutoring for kids
• Mentoring

Families experiencing homelessness often struggle with serious health issues all year round, but summer heat can bring its own unique problems. Fortunately, families at Union Rescue Mission have free access to the UCLA School of Nursing Health Clinic located in our building. Thanks to you…

All over Los Angeles County this summer, record numbers of men, women, and children are experiencing homelessness — in fact, 40% of people living on the streets are women and children. It’s hard to imagine the horrors they endure day after day, night after night. Hunger, thirst, violence, sexual assault, fear, soul-killing hopelessness — and often death.

Yet thanks to caring people like you, thousands of these precious souls have found new hope and transformed lives at Union Rescue Mission. Your compassion gives them the hope and courage they need to give life another try.

Every gift, large and small, is crucial to help get these struggling men, women, and children back on their feet. Your generous gift will help provide food, beds, and shelter—and give more people the real long-term help they need to rebuild their lives. So please send the most generous gift you can today. Thank you!