We are currently looking for donations of flash drives (any size) and headsets to use in our Learning Center. The Learning Center offers tutoring, computer access, and classes for our guests and residents at Union Rescue Mission.
If you are able to contribute in any way, please contact Erin Hennings at ehennings@urm.org for more information. Thank you!
Monday to Friday, we need volunteers in our PEEPS department. This task involves caring for children aged 3 months – 5 years while their mothers are onsite taking Program classes.
This is a perfect position for volunteers who are looking to hold, rock, sing, read, play, and love these little kids. Shifts are from 9:00 – 12:00 p.m. or 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. We prefer that volunteers make a weekly or bi-weekly commitment to help.
For more information or to find out how to get started, please contact Monique Johnson at mjohnson@urm.org.
All my life, I wanted to design and construct buildings. Growing up, my heroes were men like Frank Lloyd Wright. But that dream never seemed very realistic for a kid raised in a gang bangin’ neighborhood like mine.
So, I pursued boxing instead — and at one time, I was one of the best amateur boxers in the country. But even that dream got derailed, thanks to drugs, gangs, and violence. After both my closest friends were murdered in the early 90s, my life fell apart. In fact, I later ended up going to prison for manslaughter myself.
After I was released in 2005, I got married and tried to turn my life around. But I still had issues I didn’t want to deal with. I ended up going back to prison, my wife divorced me, and after I left prison in 2010, I ended up living on the streets, eating out of dumpsters.
After a year, I knew I couldn’t survive another winter outside. In the fall of 2011, I went to the library, logged on to the internet, and I typed in “homelessness.” The first site I opened was for Union Rescue Mission. I studied the site and saw all the services they offered to help men like me. But I was skeptical.
A couple of months later, I was talking to an uncle about wanting to change my life. He said, “You have to go to Union Rescue Mission.” My mouth fell open. He explained that years before, URM had transformed his life and they could do the same for me. Three days later, he brought me here.
I’ve been here over a year now, and from the first moment, I knew the people here cared about me. There’s so much love in the air, and it never stops. That love, along with counseling, medical treatment, and spiritual mentoring, changed my life — the way I dress, talk, think, everything. All my life, I’d mimicked guys on the street to survive. Now, I learned to mimic Jesus Christ.
Today, I’m enrolled at Los Angeles Community College and the Pepperdine Business Entrepreneur Program. I’m going to fulfill my lifelong dream. I’m going to be an architect.
I will never be able to repay what Union Rescue Mission and people like you have done for me. I’ve never experienced this kind of love. I know Union Rescue Mission isn’t “home” — but it’s going to get me there.
Remember Our Hope
This Lenten and Easter season, we invite you to join us for a few moments each day to reflect on our real hope for healing and new life.
Receive Rev. Andy’s devotional emails by signing up here.
Todd’s story, which I hope you read in this issue of The Mission, is extraordinary in so many ways. His life was never easy, but then he spent more than a heartbreaking year trying to survive the streets.
I’ve seen these streets break hard, tough men like him. And many times, no matter how much healing they experience, the cruelty of the streets scars them for life. I’m sure Todd feels those scars — but you’d never know it. Every time I see him, his face lights up with joy and hope. There’s a bounce in his step, a lightness in his soul, and a determination to make his second chance at life mean something special.
And it’s all because of the love and care he experienced at Union Rescue Mission. It’s because he learned a new way of living, modeled after Jesus Christ. And it’s because of the dignity he rediscovered here.
Love, care, dignity, and Jesus. These make up the foundation that changes the lives of hurting and broken men and women. And, this foundation is only possible thanks to you and your support. Thank you.
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
Hearts for Hope Celebrity Fashion Show is an annual event, held at the beautiful Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village.
The festivities will include a silent and live auction, a boutique, a wonderful lunch and a fashion show featuring the designs of Rebecca Taylor and VINCE. Proceeds from the event will benefit the women, their children and the senior women that call Hope Gardens Family Center home.
Date: Saturday, February 9, 2013
Time: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Address:
2 Dole Drive
West Lake Village, CA 91362
If you’d like to attend this event you can purchase tickets online.
I know what homelessness is like. I lived on the streets for 10 years. Heat . . . cold . . . rain . . . it’s hard. But the worst part? Everyone looks at you with disgust, even though they don’t understand. They all had family and friends. I had no one. One time, even my own brother drove past me on the street. He just shook his head and kept driving.
It’s hard to blame them. I was a meth addict. And meth drove me all the way to the streets. Thanks to my addiction, I ended up sleeping in parks, schools, abandoned buildings, and sometimes I’d burn out so bad I’d just collapse on a sidewalk. I lived in constant fear of being robbed, mugged, or murdered.
Winter was the worst, especially when it rained. Some nights it got so cold and damp I thought I’d freeze to death. Some guys did. They’d freeze in the night and never wake up. Nights like that, I had to find some way to start a fire. Or just keep walking. I wanted to die. In fact, I often prayed that God would kill me. But He never did.
In October 2011, I finally got tired of it all and came to Union Rescue Mission. It’s the smartest thing I ever did, because that’s when I started reading the Bible. Through counseling and studying God’s Word, I heard God knocking at my heart and I opened it to Him. And today my life is completely changed.
I’ve learned that God gives everyone a gift. Mine is encouragement. So now I plan on going to college to be a drug counselor. There was a time I prayed to die. Now I pray to live to see how God will use me. I want to save the lives of guys like me.
Tonight, more than 57,000 people experiencing homelessness will struggle to survive the Los Angeles cold. Without shelter, they suffer from cold-related illnesses, vulnerability to predators and crime, and even death.
Your generous gift provides precious souls with nourishing meals, a warm bed, and life-transforming programs. Thank you for helping them get out of the cold this winter.
It’s a hard world for men and women experiencing homelessness. Last summer, we found a man lying in a pile of garbage across the street — he’d been dead for days.
During the wet, cold, winter months, an average of one man or woman dies on these streets every day.
This winter, we’re offering 120 extra beds every night the temperature drops below 40 degrees or whenever it rains. It may not seem like much, but it means a lot to the man or woman who gets a bed — and it just might save their life. Thank you for caring.
Blessings,
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
Just before Christmas I heard an outstanding message by Pastor Chuck Swindoll on our local Christian radio station, KKLA 99.5 FM. He was discussing the definition of gift, with baby Jesus in mind. He started with the Merriam-Webster definition of gift; something voluntarily transferred by one person to another without compensation. I felt this was an excellent definition. A gift is given without any expectation of compensation or anything in return. In the case of the gift of baby Jesus, Chuck went on to say that sometimes we receive extraordinary gifts that dwarf anything we could give or do in return and gifts that make a simple thank you seem like not quite enough.
This is how I feel about the many generous contributors to Union Rescue Mission. You
overwhelmingly responded with year-end gifts and helped us reach a daunting $4.5 Million goal! We had to reach this goal in order to move ahead with launching a much needed jobs program for our graduate men and women, and moving ahead with our plans to relocate 12 moms and up to 30 precious children from the dangerous streets of Skid Row to the safety and peace of Hope Gardens. There was absolutely no way we could do this without your extraordinary gifts. We were completely powerless on our own. Your extraordinary gifts dwarf anything we could do or say to properly say thank you, but all we can do is say Thank You, from the bottom of our hearts! We can also express our thanks by helping URM move ahead with our good plans to bless our graduates and our moms and children.
In Acts 20:35, Paul says that Jesus taught, “it is more blessed to give than to receive”. I would agree with that completely. I’d add, “It is much easier to give than to receive”. It is easier to be on the giving end and it is more difficult and humbling to be on the receiving end, especially when the gift is extraordinary and overwhelms anything you could do to return the favor.
With all of the practice I’ve had with 34 years of ministry and 34 years of depending on the gifts of others you’d think that I would have developed a certain level of humility and become an expert on saying “Thanks”. However, when the gift is too big, like the gift of baby Jesus, or too big, like gifts of a much needed $4.5 Million, my words of thanks do not seem like enough.
I’m getting ready and struggling with accepting and saying “thanks” to yet another too big of a gift. My wife, Bonnie, is getting ready to donate her kidney to me and give me the gift of a longer life. I get tears in my eyes even writing this. It’s a humbling gift, and causes me to crumble. It’s so big and such a sacrifice that I’ve tried every way that I can to talk her out of doing it – to no avail. I’ve told her that I don’t mind the 12 hours a week of dialysis, that I feel fine, and that I appreciate the extra time I have during dialysis to write personal thank you notes to our URM contributors. I thought I had her on the ropes and ready to say no in front of the surgeon when we were discussing potential complications, but then the surgeon said to me, in front of her, “As a type 1 diabetic, you only have a 50% chance of lasting only five years on dialysis. That sealed the deal. We find out Friday, January 4th, the January date of the transplant surgery.
Please keep us in your prayers. Pray for the protection of my wife, Bonnie, as she shares this too big of a gift with me. Pray for me, that I will somehow know how to humbly accept this too big of a gift, and live up to being the man that she must think I am. Sometimes, it seems, thanks is not enough.
Thank you!
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
I spoke to a church yesterday about our work here at Union Rescue Mission and I have to admit just how thankful I order generic viagra was to be alive and representing URM and Hope Gardens. After a year in which I had a heart attack, a quadruple bypass surgery, and kidney failure, I am thankful to be strong enough to continue in my job as CEO and to energetically get up and speak about our involvement in transforming the lives of our precious guests.
This may sound odd, but when I was battling for my life for several months, especially the entire month of July, my wife will attest to the fact that what I was most concerned about was not my life, but being able to return to this work and the people that I love so much. I know it does not make sense. You can’t return to work if you’re not alive and well!
However, this work and these precious people are what drove me to persevere, listen to doctors, follow a strict diet, work through cardiac rehab, step into dialysis, all in an effort to gain the strength to carry on in this ministry.
In this Christmas season, I am most thankful for the strength to carry on. I am so thankful it is difficult to put into words. Thank you for all of your prayers and support!
I am definitely strong, however, I am concerned as well about having enough resources to carry on in this ministry. Our URM Board of Directors has mandated that we raise 105% of the budgeted revenues by January 1st, in order to open a newly renovated 16 unit building at Hope Gardens and before hiring a jobs assessor and a job developer to serve URM graduates. The board of directors wants to be certain that we can sustain this ministry. The 16 unit building will serve at least 12 more moms with 30 precious children, rescuing them from homelessness and Skid Row. The jobs assessor and developer will pave the way for our graduates to escape homelessness in the best way I know, a life transformed followed by a job, and then a home.
In order to reach 105% of our revenues by January 1st, 2013, we need to raise $4.5 Million in December. That may seem impossible, however, in December of 2005, we raised nearly $5 Million! We need not only some miraculous large gifts, but we need many of our friends to give what they can, and it will all add up to enough and will change lives! Please, in this Christmas season, consider giving all you can to transform the lives of our women, children, and graduates. Your gift could make all of the difference in the world for someone.
Thank you,
Your co-worker in Christ,
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
Steven’s ankles are swollen, his abdomen bulges grotesquely, and weariness consumes him. Forty years of heavy drinking earned him cirrhosis of the liver. Thanks to Union Rescue Mission, he’s sober now and on a waiting list for a liver transplant. But it’s a long list with no guarantees. Without the transplant, he has just months to live.
But he’s not worried. “God never gave up on me,” he says. “Over the past 40 years, he’s carried me past a lot of graveyards, and I believe he can do it again.”
Steven grew up the son of an uneducated, but hard-working father, who sacrificed a lot for his family. “My father wasn’t a selfish man. But I was. I didn’t want a slow nickel, I wanted a fast dime — and I wanted it now,” Steven says.
He got married in his early 20s and started working in the record industry. But before long, he was also a “full-blown” alcoholic.
“I became a black-out drinker and couldn’t remember what I did when I was under the influence,” he says. What he did was forge checks and rob banks, landing in prisons all over the country. He lost everything and ended up living on the streets.
“Most people saw me as a homeless drunk living behind dumpsters. But when I drank, I didn’t have to see me. I was Casper the Ghost,” he says.
In February 2011, his health was failing and his face was a “bloody mess” from a beating he received on the streets. He hadn’t bathed or eaten much in three months and his entire family had long ago given up on him.
He’d had enough and came to Union Rescue Mission. “I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior and I signed up for my man card. I was 57 years old and I had to grow up and take responsibility for my life. I did everything He asked of me,” he says. And he did much more than the basics. He learned about responsibility and even reconnected with his siblings and renewed his wedding vows with his wife.
Everything in his life improved — except his health. That’s when doctors informed him he had cirrhosis.
“What’s my New Year’s wish?” he asks. “Sure, I want another chance at life. But what I really want is just to love on my family for as long as God gives me. I want to give back and love on people. I want to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them, because I’m so grateful for what God and Union Rescue Mission have done for me.”
For people experiencing homelessness, ringing in the New Year is not a celebration — it’s a painful reminder of their personal misery and the hopelessness they feel at not being able to do anything about it.
At Union Rescue Mission, however, we give these men and women the chance to hope and dream again. Your generosity gives hurting people the foundation they need to take their first steps toward a whole new life.
In this issue of The Mission, we celebrate and honor the hopes and dreams — and the courage — of the men and women at URM who choose to transform their lives in 2013.
Last year, I was living on the streets. But Union Rescue Mission completely changed my life. My dream for 2013 is to attend Pepperdine University’s Business Entrepreneur Program, and to attend Los Angeles Community College to study architecture. I want to be an architect —that’s been my life-long goal.
I was a stay-at-home mom raising five kids when my husband decided to leave us. I didn’t have anywhere to live. I thank God He led us to Union Rescue Mission. Now I’m at Hope Gardens, and I know my kids and I have a future. My goal for 2013 is, first, to make sure my kids are stable. Then I want to go to college to study anesthesiology.
I was a drug addict for 43 years, but thanks to God I’m clean and sober today. I’ve lived a crazy life and I’ve written a book about it. In 2013, I hope my book is a blessing to people and I get the chance to travel the country promoting it. I also want to attend Hope International University so I can study the Bible and learn His Word.
1. Make a Year-End Gift to Union Rescue Mission before Dec. 31
2. Visit our Gift Catalog at urm.org/giftcatalog to give a gift to a guest at URM this holiday season
3. Get some info about volunteering by visiting urm.org/get-involved or emailing volunteer@urm.org
As 2012 comes to end, I can’t help but joyfully look back at all the transformed lives who’ve come through Union Rescue Mission, thanks to people who care — people like you. I think of all the men who overcame addictions, others who found new jobs, and mothers with new-found hope.
Yet plenty of challenges remain. Last summer, we were home to a record number of families, including an average of 165 children per night. I think of all the parents who need jobs. I think of all the men escaping the streets, but who now face the daunting task of finding work that offers a livable wage.
My New Year’s wish? Jobs. If people are going to escape homelessness, they must have jobs. In 2013, I’m looking forward to working with investors who will help us create new job opportunities for our men and women. Union Rescue Mission is in the business of saving lives. Heading into 2013, I pray that with the help of increasing numbers of generous people like you, we can make a real dent in the numbers of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
Blessings,
Rev. Andy Bales, CEO
The comfort of home, the joy of fellowship, the excitement of shopping! All for a great cause.
The Friends of Hope Gardens, is a group of compassionate women with hearts for service that have joined forces in support of the women and children living at Union Rescue Mission’s Hope Gardens Family Center. This December 2nd you will have an opportunity to link-up with the Friends of Hope Gardens at their Annual Christmas Boutique!
Stop by to shop for a few unique, handmade, adorable Holiday gifts for yourself or loved ones. The Christmas Boutique will be held at the home of Robert and Anna Lou Weir:
4690 Encino Avenue, Encino, CA 91316 from noon until 3:00 p.m.
All proceeds will benefit the women and children at Hope Gardens Family Center.
Hope to see you there!
Hannah started with a flyer. The idea was simple – hand it out to her neighbors, ask them to collect clothes they would be willing to donate, and Hannah would swing by and pick them up.
“Each year I look for ways to make the world a better place” says Hannah.
Well Hannah, that is exactly what you are doing.
Hannah collected 80 bags of clothing to bless the families at Union Rescue Mission.
It is people like this that are making a difference in the lives of families experiencing homelessness in LA. Little acts of love go a very long way. We can’t thank Hannah and all of her neighbors and friends who donated enough.