Andy Bales, CEO of Union Rescue Mission, spent one night on the streets of Skid Row. How he described it? Hell on earth.
See the people he met. Witness the chaos he saw. Feel the despair that was all around. And learn how you can help men, women, and children experiencing homelessness.
During my dear father’s last days on the earth, he shared the most painful period of his life – his difficult days as a child experiencing homelessness in Southern California during the Great Depression.
Tears welled in his eyes as he described holding onto his father’s neck so tight that he choked him as his family jumped on the moving freight car of a train. It was terrifying! He told me of the embarrassment of living in tents, sheds, even a garage in Compton. The mere fact of knowing he was homeless, an outcast, as he attended school, was a blow to his self-esteem and overwhelming to my Daddy, Carl Lee Bales.
I see their faces every day. Children, just like my father, overwhelmed with homelessness, walking into URM with their devastated parents. Real unemployment at nearly 25%, a housing crisis, and a flawed approach to solving the crisis of homelessness has left 20,000 precious kids experiencing homelessness in Southern California – and the numbers of children, families, and individuals continues to increase.
This is not the 1930’s Great Depression, this is the Great Recession of 2007 and beyond.
On Skid Row in LA, someone’s precious son digs through garbage cans for recyclables during the night and sleeps only sparingly during the day in order to be safe. Somebody’s precious daughter pairs up with someone, even an ex-convict, in a tent on the filthy sidewalk, to avoid being prey to any other vicious predator on the streets.
It is a terrifying, overwhelming scene happening each day and night for my friends experiencing homelessness. Because of my Dad, I know the impact this is having on their souls. We need to continue working to make their plight known, until we’ve ended homelessness as we know it on the streets of Skid Row.
Rev. Andy Bales
It is no secret that Skid Row is not the most pleasant of places. There is a distinct smell about the area, sidewalks and streets are significantly dirtier, and the smell of marijuana is never far away.
But when you dig even deeper, it gets much worse. Hypodermic needles, vermin nests, and human feces are a few of things you might find.
At the end of May the County Department of Public Health issued a 32-page report declaring Skid Row a public health hazard.
In June 2011 a ruling was made that banned city workers from collecting and destroying belongings that had been abandoned on the street. This ruling was made on the basis that it would protect the personal property of those experiencing homelessness while they were not near their belongings.
However, large encampments began to spring up and personal property that was to be protected by this ruling has now become a host to many health hazards.
Yesterday, a 3-week cleaning effort began to remove such hazards. Personal belongings that are removed will be held for 90 days in a secure location for individuals to collect. Lockers are also available for people to safely store their personal belongings.
Currently city lawyers are hoping to clarify what kind of property this ruling intended to protect and hope to make an amendment to the ruling to avoid a continued health hazard.
(Source: Ryan Vaillancourt, LA Downtown News)
(Photographs by Mark Boster – Los Angles Times)
Yesterday, the Union Rescue Mission chapel was a gathering place for organizations in the area to coordinate an outreach effort to people potentially displaced by the cleaning. This effort hopes to inform and encourage those on the street to use some of the many services available in the area.
Cleaning the streets is a good thing. But it does run the risk of displacing people who are already vulnerable. That is why it is crucial that people feel welcomed to places like URM. People need to be encouraged to make a choice to come in and receive necessary services, or better yet enter a holistic life-transforming program that will put an end to their life on the street.
Union Rescue Mission is among 24 organizations recently awarded grants from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center to support programs providing direct, community-based mental health services.
The $75,000 grant from Cedars-Sinai, part of a new $1.6 million contribution from the medical center to help existing community organizations expand the number of people they serve in their mental-health programs, will pay for direct mental health counseling for single moms and children experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County.
CEO, Rev. Andy Bales said “Many precious people experiencing homelessness also experience mental health issues. We’re very thankful for this support from Cedars-Sinai”.
The $1.6 million Community Mental Health Grant Program is part of Cedars-Sinai’s overall community benefit contribution, which last year provided more than $600 million toward free and part-pay hospital care to the uninsured and those with limited means; the unpaid costs of caring for Medi-Cal and Medicare patients; research and education; and hundreds of community programs in local schools, homeless shelters and community centers.
Faithful partnership and support like this changes lives. A big thanks to Cedars-Sinai for giving so generously!
Two years ago, Will Nicklas and John Kennelly were living the American Dream. As executives at Toyota Motor Sales, USA, they earned substantial incomes that afforded their families the protection of upper-middle-class lifestyles and affluent neighborhoods far from the grit and hopeless despair of Skid Row.
“People on Skid Row weren’t even an afterthought to me. I was too busy working on getting my own slice of the pie,” John admits. “I never cared until Will and I went down there one afternoon.”
Will, who wanted to “do something meaningful in the community,” had already secured a cargo van for Union Rescue Mission, and was also involved with securing special shirts for an upcoming fundraiser for the Mission. When it came time to deliver the shirts, he invited his boss, John, to accompany him.
“Honestly, I only went because I wanted to play hooky from the office for an afternoon,” John says.
“But when I took a tour of the Mission, met some of the guys in the program, heard their stories — well, I was moved. Unless your heart is made of stone, you want to help those guys.”
Before long, Will and John were brainstorming ways they could make a bigger difference.
“Ultimately, the way home is a job. Without a job, the cycle of homelessness will never end for these guys,” Will says.
So Will and John agreed to spend time mentoring URM’s men, coaching them as they developed resumes and teaching them how to interview. More important, they persuaded UGL Services, Toyota’s facility-maintenance vendor, to come down and interview several of the men — with no obligation to hire anyone. “The problem is, most guys at the Mission believe no one cares about people like them,” Will says. But the day UGL came to interview the guys at URM, hope filled the hallways. The men who interviewed for jobs were articulate, energetic, poised, and prepared.
In the end, four men were hired that day — men who are truly grateful for the second chance they’ve been given. And UGL has four new valuable employees. Today, John and Will are already inviting more Toyota vendors to join them at URM.
“The Bible calls us to bear one another’s burdens,” Will says. “I think it’s time for us to live that out. Skid Row is the epicenter of homelessness. It’s dark and depressing. But you know what? I keep coming back because of the hope I experience there. If you want to tap into a sense of purpose and meaning, reach out to these people. Be involved in this situation. You’ll be forever surprised at what happens.”
A growing number of people on Skid Row desperately need hope and a helping hand — they need YOU. Right now, generous friends of Union Rescue Mission have offered to match every gift we receive — up to $150,000!
That means any gift you send will be doubled to provide twice as much help for hurting men and women — and remind them that someone really does care.
This extraordinary opportunity is only available until June 30. So please make a generous gift today to provide twice as much help — and receive twice the blessing!
Over the years, I’ve heard many excuses for not helping people experiencing homelessness. Some people insist Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, so why try?” Still others think we’re only enabling addicts and alcoholics if we offer them food and shelter.
But I think it’s time to stop making excuses and truly help our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness.
Probably the most significant — and most difficult — way to help is to offer real friendship to struggling men and women, just like Will and John have done (see our cover story in this newsletter). They’ve eaten with them, mentored them, shared skills with them, and encouraged them. That’s what people really need.
But there are other ways to get involved. Help someone read in our learning center. Play with our kids in the gym. Serve a meal. Help raise money for Union Rescue Mission — and, of course, write a check of your own! Everyone can do something!
I know it isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s even heartbreaking and a little risky. But Jesus took a lot of risk and experienced much heartbreak to rescue humanity. I believe it’s time to follow in His footsteps.
Blessings,
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
Over the years, I’ve heard many excuses for not helping people experiencing homelessness. Some people insist Jesus said, “The poor you will always have with you, so why try?” Still others think we’re only enabling addicts and alcoholics if we offer them food and shelter.
But I think it’s time to stop making excuses and truly help our brothers and sisters experiencing homelessness.
Probably the most significant — and most difficult — way to help is to offer real friendship to struggling men and women, just like Will and John have done (see our cover story in this newsletter). They’ve eaten with them, mentored them, shared skills with them, and encouraged them. That’s what people really need.
But there are other ways to get involved. Help someone read in our learning center. Play with our kids in the gym. Serve a meal. Help raise money for Union Rescue Mission — and, of course, write a check of your own! Everyone can do something!
I know it isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s even heartbreaking and a little risky. But Jesus took a lot of risk and experienced much heartbreak to rescue humanity. I believe it’s time to follow in His footsteps.
Blessings,
There have been some interesting statements put out by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, the Los Angeles Services Authority, and others, that homelessness throughout the nation is down—- by 1%. Please do not believe everything you read or hear concerning this. At our ground level on the streets of Skid Row, and in talking to people on the ground around the country, this is not the case. Even as these reports have come out, 55 new tent cities have sprung up around our country. In Camden, New Jersey alone, a challenging place to live even if you are housed, four brand new tent cities have sprung up.
Homelessness has gone off the charts – nearly out of control – as many Americans have found it hard to keep a place of their own. I recently read of a church in Arroyo Grande, California, opening up their parking lot so that people living in cars could have a place to rest for the night, and the church is asking for partner churches around their area to join them. People are living in tents, cars, and doubling and tripling up with friends and family. Thousands of school children in LA and around the country are battling homelessness while the Federal Government, local governments, and foundations have decided to focus only on the chronically homeless and veterans, while leaving many, literally, out in the cold.
However, when the next homeless count comes out again, I expect the numbers to be down, and here is why:
The most simple part of this count (and this count can really only be described as an attempt at an educated guess) has always been a pretty accurate count of how many people are living in shelters and transitional housing. That number has been steady, pretty accurate, and with the help of shelter leaders and staff has been a reliable number. This number is much easier to track than the hidden people who are homeless in their tents, in the woods, in cars, or even the uncounted who are doubling and tripling up. However, this easier to track number is going away.
Resources are moving and moving quickly, away from shelters and transitional housing beds, towards housing first initiatives, which is believed to be the new way to end homelessness. See my earlier blogs for notes on this. As the resources move, shelters, transitional housing, and the beds therein are being removed from the scene, and the numbers of precious people on the streets, in tents, and in cars continues to increase, however as the next count rolls out, the easier more accurate part of the count-those in shelter and transitional housing beds-will have dwindled, and the more difficult, nearly impossible part of the count, going out on the streets looking for people, will continue to be difficult, and it will appear, or be made to appear, that homelessness has decreased, when in fact, homelessness has increased.
Whether this future inaccuracy in counts will be determined by an ideology that is bent against shelter, transitional housing, recovery or even if it is done with the best of intentions, I want to assure you now, that I will wearily watch the results of the next count of people experiencing homelessness, and I will compare that to what I see and experience with my own eyes, and I’d advise you to do the same.
Should we give to anyone who asks?
Clearly scripture tells us to keep an open hand to our brothers and sisters in need.
Deuteronomy 15:11 (ESV)
For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
However, experience has taught me that almost all of the folks standing on corners, sitting at the exit or entrance of freeway ramps, panhandling in public, or even coming to churches to connect with the person in charge of benevolence are not truly homeless or impoverished. My Dad, Carl Bales was part of a news expose on panhandlers in Des Moines, Iowa. The news feature showed that many panhandlers were making as much as $300 per day, which they used to purchase alcohol and drugs. I know more than 400 people experiencing homelessness in Pasadena by name, and over 1000 people by name on the streets of Skid Row, and I can tell you I have never ever seen one of these people, who truly are experiencing homelessness, standing on a corner panhandling.
I do know folks who panhandle all day, earn about $300 per day, then walk to their car and drive to their apartment or home.
As the person in charge of the benevolent fund at a number of churches over the years, I realized no matter how many safe guards I put up in making sure the funds were dispensed to people truly in need, I could have spent $1,000,000 dollars and not even made a dent in addressing the whole need.
People experiencing homelessness and poverty need a caring community and a relationship much more than they need the few bucks you or I can give on a street corner. The scriptural basis I use for this is Acts 3:1-8 (ESV)
1 Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
2 And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.
3 Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.
4 And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.”
5 And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
6 But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
7 And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong.
8 And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
From this I learn people need permanent help in becoming strong, and a connection with Jesus Christ and a faith community.
I advise that giving cash to someone in need is the least helpful, most temporary, and should be given only as a last resort. When someone asks me for cash so they can get something to eat, I invite them into a restaurant with me, buy them something to eat, and if possible, sit with them and hear their story. When someone approaches me and asks for funds to get a place to stay, I connect them with resources, often hand them my card, and ask them to come to our Mission to enroll in a program that will provide not only a roof over their head but possibly a life-transforming experience.
At rare times, giving funds is the last resort and maybe the only option. When an elderly lady on the streets of Shanghai, China asked me for help, I was unaware of services available, and also aware that there is no Social Security for elderly folks without family in China, and I gave her all of the cash I had with me. Now I’ve been asked to come back and help Shanghai establish a Rescue Mission, and I’d say that will be real help!
Blessings,
Andy Bales, CEO, Union Rescue Mission
Terrence went from smoking crack and sleeping on the streets to a full-time job at a national company — the first job he’s ever had. See how he found the courage and skills to transform his life at Union Rescue Mission.
Some have expressed surprise that I have been speaking up concerning Home For Good. As an original signee, I intended to support Home For Good. I was excited that the business community, long absent from the efforts to end homelessness in LA, was jumping in with both feet in an effort to address homelessness. If Home For Good had done what I hoped, brought in the business community to advance another strategy to add to the continuum of solutions to homelessness, I would have stayed very supportive, but they did not. Instead of humbly presenting another good strategy to the continuum, Home For Good presented Housing 1st/Permanent supportive housing as the one size fits all solution, or silver bullet to ending homelessness. In a meeting with the AFP (Association of Fundraising Professionals), the speaker for Home For Good stated that not only is Home For Good the solution to homelessness, but that the rest of us; shelters, recovery centers, and transitional housing, had been doing it all wrong. I scratched my head and thought, “We shouldn’t encourage people to recover?” She said that while we had all managed the problem, Home For Good would solve the problem. This type of over-confidence from Home For Good was a cause for concern, but that over-confidence has also led to a big marketing and branding push by the LA United Way, The Chamber of Commerce, with help from the Federal, County, City government, and even some Foundations and it has effectively drawn resources away from shelters, recovery centers and transitional housing programs, closing many and reducing beds in others which in turn has caused more people to fall on the streets, in effect, not ending homelessness but adding to the number of people experiencing homelessness.
If anyone doubts me, come walk the streets with me. Since the launch of Home For Good, the number of people on the streets of Skid Row has nearly tripled, and I do not believe this is confined to Skid Row. This Housing First push is nationwide. The theory is that if you focus on the 10% to 20%, the chronically devastated from homelessness, provide them with a roof over their heads, a place to call home, with supportive services, you will end homelessness. The problem I have with that theory is that moving all of the resources and services away from the other 80% to 90% who are episodically homeless will leave them homeless and will cause them to become the chronically devastated from homelessness of the near future. There are studies that show that the chronically homeless of today were the chronically homeless and poor children of yesteryear, and leaving children on the streets today will produce tomorrow’s chronically homeless and devastated adults. This Housing First Push/Shift is happening throughout the country, and many are reporting a drop in homelessness, however, meanwhile, chronic homelessness is up 6 percent, people doubling up has risen 13 percent, people are turning to storage areas for living units, and 55 tent cities have sprung up outside of cities throughout the country as homelessness actually has increased.
Let’s use Home For Good’s published and much touted results as a model. Home For Good produced only 211 new units of permanent supportive housing. That is progress. However, as Home For Good signed existing agencies on, they began utilizing the statistics of those agencies as their own for an overall effect. Let’s say the existing agencies, last year, before Home For Good found x number of people housing. This year, they found x number of people housing, plus y, with y =211 new units of housing. It appears that Home For Good took x plus y, and with this new cooperation stated that Home For Good provided housing for 3,000 previously homeless individuals. Producing 211 new units of permanently supportive housing will not keep up with the number of people falling into homelessness, or those already becoming chronically homeless. Even 3,000 per year, will not end homelessness. 3,000 per year, along with the shelters, recovery centers, and transitional housing has a chance of making progress, but no one strategy has a chance of ending homelessness on its own.
Finally, the astronomical savings of resources that Home For Good advocates advanced initially always had me leery. Something in the range of $750 Million in savings was touted along with this strategy. “If people are in their own places, rather than on the streets, we will save $750 Million in shelter and emergency services, was the claim.” This showed a lack of understanding. The capital expenses of building the permanent supportive housing was left out of the equation, as well as the high operating costs to truly provide the needed services, security, and strong management. To build enough permanent supportive housing and provide support services for everyone experiencing homelessness in LA, using Project 50 as a model, would be in the range of $15 Billion for initial capital investment and $5 Billion per year for operating/supportive services. Those resources are not available, and will never be poured into this one solution. A much better, more practical approach is a multi-pronged strategy of prevention services, shelter, case management, recovery centers, transitional housing, along with affordable and supportive housing. See http://youarethemission.org
We have a permanent supportive housing unit next door to URM. A few weeks ago a resident was attempting to jump off of the roof. His actions tied up the LAPD and the Fire Department for the entire day. Where are the cost savings in that? It is not irregular to see the County Coroner in front of the building responding to an overdose death. Where are the cost savings in that? Last week, we caught one of their residents burglarizing our loading dock on video. What makes everyone think that a roof over the head of someone solves all problems? Since the launch of Home For Good it is reported by the Central City East Association that police calls to Skid Row are up 500% and fire calls are up 1000%. Where is the cost savings in that?
As the world, it seems, along with the government, some foundations, The LA United Way, the LA Chamber of Commerce have all moved to this housing first/ Home For Good strategy, the Board of Directors and leadership of URM has remained firm in our commitment to do our part in ending homelessness with the strategy of Life Transformation, followed by a job, then a home. Representatives with Home For Good stopped by one of our last Los Angeles Central Partners Collaborative a few weeks ago. They asked us to fill out a document, hand over our donor lists, and sign on the dotted line in order to receive the Seal of Approval from Home For Good that we are effective recovery centers and shelters. Mind you, Midnight Mission has been doing this work for nearly 100 years, LA Mission for 75, and URM for 120. Yet, Home For Good, in existence for 1 year, wanted to take charge and become the expert judge of our effectiveness. I responded to this audacity by saying, “You all can do whatever you want, and put the seal of approval on whomever you’d like, but URM will continue to effectively end homelessness through life transformation, then a job, then a home.”
I will again be kind and use the word over confidence. What causes wealthy powerful business people to believe that because now that they are on the scene, this complex issue of homelessness is somehow solved? You can say what you’d like, you can market and brand, but no one solution and no amount of marketing and branding, no matter how powerful the marketing machine is, will be the single solution for this complex issue of homelessness. Please take some time to have proven results, ask an outside group to audit your long-term results, and then carefully consider the effect before marketing in a way that hurts other efforts by good agencies.
Terrence is 53 years old. He’s never been to a museum or an art gallery. He’s never experienced the joy of a good musical. He’s never taken a cruise. A lifetime of drug abuse and prison robbed him of a simple, good life.
But he knows the story of Easter and its message of hope, resurrection, new life — and a second chance. After all, he was raised by a Christian mother who made sure he attended church every Sunday.
When he came to Union Rescue Mission two years ago, he wasn’t sure whether a second chance was possible for him.
“I’ve been drinking and using drugs since I was nine years old,” Terrence recalls. “I left home when I was 13 and hit the streets where the dope dealers and pimps became my family.”
By age 17, Terrence was selling heroin and cocaine. The money was so good — he had his own Cadillac, furnished apartment, waterbed, tailor-made suits, and carried $1,000 in his pocket. “I was moving fast at that age,” he recalls.
But he was arrested two years later and, between the ages of 19 and 48, he spent a total of 25 years in prison for drug use, drug dealing and transportation, and burglary. When he was released the last time in 2006, he knew something had to change. That’s when he decided to go to Union Rescue Mission.
“When I got here in 2009, I’d never had a life,” he says. “I’d never held a job or got a paycheck! But I was so determined to change, I told my chaplain, ‘Whatever you ask me to do, I’ll do.'” For the next two years, Terrence learned to control his anger, learned more about himself through counseling, learned how to manage money, and even learned more about God and the Bible.
“The single most important thing they gave me is trust,” he says. “When you do as much prison time as I did, no one trusts you anymore. And when people don’t trust you, you start to believe you can’t do anything with your life.”
The Mission proved their trust by giving Terrence several janitorial responsibilities. They trusted him to get things done even when no one was watching. They entrusted him with his own crew — and even entrusted him with the keys to the building.
“Those might seem like small things, but they were big to me,” he says.
Terrence’s work ethic and transformation are so profound, UGL, Ltd., a Fortune 500 company, offered him a position, and now Terrence is looking forward to the next phase of his life.
“Working, paying bills, managing money — I’ve never done those things,” he says. “I’m not the same man I was. I got peace, I got responsibility and a life. I can’t ask for no more than that.”
Easter is God’s promise of new life to everyone who believes. “It means I really do get a second chance,” Terrence says.
Spreading His Love Throughout our Community
Saturday, March 31 – Easter Outreach
During this outreach event for the Skid Row community, we will offer live musical performances, free medical checkups, foot washings, and much-needed personal items.
Friday, April 6 – Easter Egg Hunt
Children staying at Union Rescue Mission and Hope Gardens Family Center will receive personalized Easter baskets filled with toys and candy, and enjoy an Easter egg hunt.
Friday, April 6 – Good Friday Evening Service
This chapel service invites all Union Rescue Mission guests to reflect upon the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ.
Sunday, April 8 – Sunrise Easter Service
At 6 a.m., nearly 150 guests will gather on the rooftop of Union Rescue Mission to celebrate the glorious resurrection of Jesus Christ.
A year and a half ago, the number of people living on Skid Row had fallen to nearly 800. By last fall, that number rose again to almost 1,700 . . . and by Christmas, almost 2,000 devastated souls called these streets “home.”
We have more guests seeking help at Union Rescue Mission than ever before. Like Terrence, they arrive filled with despair and hopelessness, wondering if a second chance is possible.
But there IS hope. When Jesus walked out of His tomb that first Easter, He defeated evil, disease, despair, hopelessness, and even death. We celebrate His resurrection and rejoice in God’s guarantee that we all get a second chance.
And like Jesus, every year hundreds of men and women who once lived without hope leave here with brand-new lives. They are risen indeed.
Blessings,
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO