Oasis Christian Center hosted a worship outreach last Saturday in our San Julian parking lot for people experiencing homelessness on Skid Row. Nearly 100 volunteers came out to sing and serve snacks.
Thanks so much to Oasis Christian Center and their worship team for coming out and sharing with our guests!
New Volunteer jobs and opportunities have been posted to our Volunteer page for this summer. We are always in need of people to give of their time and their skills to help the people we serve. Be sure to check them out and contact us if you are interested in getting involved!
Union Rescue Mission owes a huge debt of gratitude to Bark Avenue, our local urban pet spa, for taking such good care of our homeless friends. URM had a very special little kitty that was in need of shelter, a good home and a bath. He came in with a homeless family that was not able to properly care for him. He had fleas and needed some immediate care and TLC.
Bark Avenue has been voted Best of Downtown for 3 years running — and they deserve it. They are very passionate about supporting our Central City community and when we asked them to help us with our little homeless kitty, they responded immediately and said they would love to help. Not only did they give him a nice little bath and flea treatment, but they also gave him some supplies to take to his new home.
If you haven’t checked them out for your own pets, we recommend you do. Your doggy or kitty will have the time of their life at the Bark Avenue Day Spaw while you are at work.
Thanks so much to all of our Bark Avenue friends.
P. S. Our little fluffy friend was too hard to resist and was adopted in the same day by a loving home.
This year’s Union Rescue Mission Golf Classic was held on May 9th at Trump National Golf Course, sponsored by the generosity of Toyota Motors Sales. The Trump National Golf Course is hidden away in the California cliffs taking advantage of one of the most incredible views of the Pacific Ocean from every hole. Noted as the most expensive golf course ever built, participants in the Golf Classic truly enjoyed a luxurious day.
In teams of four, participants took to the 18 holes of the course, some of which had contest games and prizes for the golfers. Following the golfing, a Silent Auction, Live Auction, Dinner and program awaited both golfers and guests. The whole day was a testament to the generous hearts of many doing their part to help URM aid in making a lasting difference in the lives of those experiencing homelessness.
Women and men guests of Union Rescue Mission were treated Monday afternoon with a Grooming and Beauty Day. The event was hosted by The Church of Love and Unity Christan Fellowship in the guest chapels. Stations were set up for men’s haircuts, women’s hair styling, makeup, facials, and manicures. Thirty men and thirty women took part in this Day of Beauty Make Over’s spa, in the spirit of this Mothers Day coming up this Sunday!
Volunteers prayed with the women as they finished up their makeovers and sent them off with a smile on their face.
Thank you to the Church of Love & Unity for gifting our mothers and guest men with this service for the third year!
Good Friday morning brought our younger children and mothers of Hope Gardens Family Center out to have fun with an Easter Egg Hunt.
The children were given personalized Easter Baskets, which were generously handcrafted and donated.
Each child opened their basket, full of toys and candy, and then rushed to the lawn to hunt for the hidden eggs filled with prizes.
The Easter festivities will continue throughout the day as another Easter Egg hunt for the older children at Hope Gardens will be held. Thank you to all those who were a part of blessing for these children and mothers. It warms our hearts to see so many smiles on the faces of our families at Hope Gardens this Easter Weekend.
Yesterday, Ross Stores District 22 came to URM to hand out handmade Easter Baskets! Over 50 kids at Union Rescue Mission were excited – and surprised! – to receive these baskets full of toys and candy.
Children lined up outside our Teen Room and were able to meet Ross employees and pick out their own Easter Basket.
Due to Ross’ generosity, there were enough to also bless 60 kids at our Hope Gardens Family Center, as well! Thank you so much to everyone who made this special Easter surprise happen!
On Saturday, Union Rescue Mission hosted an Easter Outreach event for the local Skid Row Community. We had live musical performances while guests were able to “shop” for items they needed. Everyone receive tickets that they could redeem for items/services of their choice, such as clothing, shoes, snacks, hygiene items, Bibles and even a foot washing and medical check.
In the past, we have gone out into the community to deliver hygiene boxes. This year we wanted to try something new that would accomplish the same purpose of blessing our community during Easter, but would also allow people to customize the items that they needed and could use, not just a generic box of hygiene items.
The event was a success thanks to many volunteers from Faith Community Church, Rights of Passage group from Faithful Central Bible Church, UCLA students with our foot washing stations, Reality LA Church, A Village Community Church, and Church of God and Christ.
Last year the URM Men’s Basketball team won the Skid Row Basketball Championships. They are now facing a new year, as defending champions, and competing against seven other teams in the league.
Every Thursday night, the league’s games take place in the URM gymnasium.
Thursday, April 16th the gym filled with an audience as URM took on Project 180 in one of the closest games played this year. The two teams were neck and neck all night, as Project 180 rarely let URM keep much of a lead on them.
With 15 seconds at the end of the second half, URM was down 55-57. Unable to make another shot, the game ended with Project 180 as the winner.
Player David Jackson was the URM high scorer for the game, with fifteen rebounds and scoring eighteen points for the team.
Although our men played hard, the loss was still disappointing to the team. However, our URM players are looking forward to playing next week and continue working to repeat their championship title again this season.
Coach Carl Williams calls a time out late in the second half to encourage the team to fight till the end.
Many of the valuable life lessons needed to survive in the world are learned outside of a traditional classroom. There are key components in addition to school such as developing dreams and goals, becoming well-rounded individuals, and learning from all different walks of life and professions that can make a person more successful. This is exactly what Christopher Kai had in mind when he began his weekly “Life Skills” class for teens at URM in September 2010.
Each Monday night, Chris brings in guest speakers in addition to teaching his own classes – they have ranged from an entrepreneur, a singer, a child psychologist, a security expert, a graphic designer, a special ED teacher, a college admissions counselor, an NFL football player, a fashion designer, an LA Times writer and more.
He aims to actively engage the small group in learning, whether it is having them pretend to be blind or stand up straight when they are practicing public speaking.
The goal is that by the end of the class, students have learned something about the schooling, career choice, and overall perspective on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness of each speaker. He volunteers to hold this class for an hour each week in the hopes that students going through a hard time with struggles now will realize that those struggles can be used in a positive way for their future successes.
Christopher Kai is an author of a self-published college-success guide as well as a speaker and professional songwriter.
