Last Saturday, a group of people including Andy Bales of URM, Former Mayor Richard Riordian, and representatives from EDAR (Everyone Deserves a Roof) took to the streets of Skid Row for a night. They spent the night in EDARs, which are tent-like structures designed for storage and as an alternative to sleeping on the ground.
Check out this article and video from CBS news to hear more about the night.
Thanks to one of our supporters for making this video to spread the word about our upcoming Thanksgiving Celebrations! If you would like to help provide delicious meals this Thanksgiving Season, please click here.
Three times a year, we have the great joy of celebrating our men’s Life Transformation Program’s graduation! For the men who have completed the one-year program and all of it’s requirements, it is a very special day to celebrate how far they have come.
Yesterday was no different as we honored 22 graduates in our November 2010 ceremony. The graduates and guests heard an inspirational speech from Dr. Keith Phillips, President of World Impact. Cassie Sanchez, Worship Leader at Church of the Redeemer, also blessed us with her beautiful voice and sang several songs.
Thanks to everyone who helps make our Life Transformation programs possible; without you, we wouldn’t be here to help these courageous men and women make the steps to recovery and really change their lives.
Most importantly, congratulations to our graduates!! We are so proud of you.
November 2010 Graduates
Sean Donahue
Terry Fluornoy
Willie Gaines
Darrell Huggins
Joseph Montoya
Broderick Smith
Francisco Alvizar
James Glover
Carlos Herrera
Edward Maldonado
Franscisco Pedroza
Fredis Zuleta
Oscar Castelo
John Meyers
Austin Onyango
Nicki Sidebottom
Louis Stephenson
Steven Varga
Kenneth Jones
Eric Theirmann
Ronald Wells
Last night, we were honored to have members of the UCLA Football team come to URM to spend some fun time with our kids!
Everyone enjoyed the time of hanging out, playing games, and getting to know the players. Thanks so much to UCLA and the team for sharing their time and brightening the day for many kids!
We are so thankful for Faith Community Church in West Covina for partnering up with our Church Relations department to host a sock drive to benefit URM.
The month long drive, called “For Feet’s Sake”, brought in 11,500 pairs of socks! This is the largest donation by a church in the history of Union Rescue Mission.
Thanks so much to everyone who helped put this drive together to help bless our guests here at URM!
Tune in tomorrow to see Union Rescue Mission and some of our guests featured on CBS’ “The Bold and the Beautiful!”
Recently, URM was approached by the show to help them learn more about homelessness and Skid Row, because they had decided to incorporate homelessness into the story line. Well, they ended up coming down to URM to film and some of our guests even got to be featured on the show!
Everyone had a fun time having the cast and crew join us for a day. We are also very thankful that the issue of homelessness will be shared with a wider audience. Thanks so much to CBS and ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’ for choosing URM to be part of such a special project.
To check out past episodes, including todays, that feature scenes on Skid Row, click here, and be sure to watch tomorrow to see URM on ‘The Bold and the Beautiful’!
This week, kids at URM enjoyed a Pumpkin Carving and Decorating Party with Paris Hilton as the host!
Paris, along with her sister Nicky and some other friends (including her furry friends dressed up in Halloween costumes!) came to URM bringing pumpkins, dinner, snacks, and craft supplies!
It was a night of fun for the kids and their parents, making crafts, carving pumpkins, and hanging out with Paris, Nicky and their friends. Paris also brought some hair accessories from one of her lines for the girls, which they were all very excited about.
Thanks so much to Paris and Nicky, and their friends for bringing a night of fun to the kids – it was a welcome distraction. We are so thankful for everything you’ve done! :)
Aura and Albert Guzman never expected to find themselves experiencing homelessness. They had a wonderful family and good jobs. But as a family of four with a baby on the way, the economic downturn that caused them both to lose their jobs was more than devastating – it was life threatening.
Their savings didn’t last long and soon they ran out of options. Thankfully, they found Union Rescue Mission where they were able to stay as long as they needed to get back on their feet – together, as a family.
We hope you will take a moment to watch this video to see how lives have been renewed. And please consider giving to Union Rescue Mission to help families like the Guzman’s find their way home this Thanksgiving season.
Last week, we were honored and delighted to have Stubb’s BBQ out of Austin Texas provide all of our guests with a tasty southern BBQ lunch!
The restaurant, which also sells its delicious BBQ sauces and marinades in grocery stores nationwide, went on tour across the country, partnering with homeless organizations to serve up authentic Texas BBQ and Stubb’s sauces.
Stubb, the founder, enjoyed telling people he was a just a cook, but he was also much more than that; he was a lover of people and loved making them happy with his barbeque and sauces. That is why the company decided to give back by starting their “Feed the World” tour, which travelled the country from April 2010 – November 2010.
Our guests were definitely grateful for the amazing home-cooked meal. Thanks so much to Stubb’s for including us in your generous tour!
This morning over 400 volunteers from UCLA came downtown to serve in a multitude of projects at Union Rescue Mission. From cleaning, painting and beautifying, to serving meals, playing with children, and taking part in water walks, the students really took “Day of Service” to a whole new level.
This event is part of a larger project, UCLA’s 2nd Annual Volunteer Day, which includes about 5,000 student volunteers serving in several communities throughout the greater Los Angeles area.
We are so grateful to all the students who came out to give us some much needed help. Rev. Andy Bales said “It is exciting to see so many energetic students giving their all to make a difference in our community! Thanks for making such a difference in the lives of our precious men, women and children experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles”.
Photos courtesy of Tamryn Fyvie.