Rev Andy’s Blog

I applaud, and we at Union Rescue Mission applaud the bold step by the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Los Angeles in announcing a push to end chronic homelessness in Los Angeles through the building of permanent supportive housing both inside and outside of Skid Row.  This important move incorporates several of the steps outlined in http://YouAreTheMission.org the 10 Step Initiative to End Homelessness developed by Union Rescue Mission which we and announced on October 28^th, 2009 including:

Step 8:

Provide Permanent Supportive Housing to People Who Need it Most

The best solution for many who have been devastated by long-term homelessness is permanent supportive housing.
SRO (Single Room Occupancy) Housing is already providing permanent supportive housing, strong management, and crucial services that address underlying issues faced by those who are devastated by the long term effects of homelessness. There are organizations that have provided permanent supportive housing, including comprehensive services, for the most chronic, most devastated men and women. But we need more to focus on this initiative.

Action Steps:

• Encourage County Supervisors and City Council members to provide more permanent supportive housing, along with supportive services.
• Join Union Rescue Mission or your local agency serving people experiencing homelessness reach out to men and women on the streets and help connect them to services and housing.
• Mobilize your business, civic group, or faith community to engage and offer acts of kindness to men and women struggling with chronic homelessness.

Our crucial Step 4:

Localize the Solution To Homelessness

We must end the policy of dumping, corralling, and containing people who are struggling and experiencing homelessness.

Each city area should provide local services to their own neighbors who find themselves without a home. When invited, Union Rescue Mission and partnering agencies will consult, collaborate, and help develop regional satellites to local communities committed to seeking solutions to homelessness.

Action Steps:

• Begin a movement to meet the need. Encourage your neighborhood or city council to address the need in your own community. This is everyone’s challenge and opportunity.
• Encourage your community to open a winter or year-round shelter.
• Encourage your city or faith community to provide assistance and affordable housing for low-income families and individuals.

And the key to moving this bold step by the Chamber and United Way in LA to fruition is:

Step 1:

Change The Way We Think & Speak about People Experiencing Homelessness

Too often we describe or label people as the homeless or addicts or transients. These are precious people, made in the image of God, who are currently experiencing homelessness.

People should never be defined or labeled exclusively by their current condition. They are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. When we label people, we don’t see their potential and the possibilities within them. When we look the other way and ignore people, we de-humanize them and diminish their value. We need to look into our own hearts, change our thinking, and learn to say, “But by God’s grace, there go I,” then ask, “What can I do?” Only then can we make a difference.

Action Steps:

• Take time to get to know men, women, and children who are experiencing homelessness. Hear their stories, understand their struggles, and put a human face on this issue.
• Train yourself to think and speak differently about people who are homeless.
• Engage others in this discussion. Language shapes our thinking and when we change our language, we begin to see things from a different perspective.
• Read books like Same Kind of Different as Me, A Heart For The City, When Helping Hurts, and other great books that help to open your eyes and heart to the needs of people experiencing homelessness.

One of my dear friends has been critical of United Way and the Chamber of Commerce jumping on board, asking, “Why is everyone so excited that two agencies long absent from serving people experiencing homelessness are now jumping on board?”  I, for one, would say that it is because the business community has long been the missing piece of the puzzle in ending this crisis.

Five years ago we were at a business event with many of the great business leaders of our city.  Steve Lopez, the brilliant writer for the LA Times and an amazing advocate for people experiencing homelessness, was being honored and there was a push made to help URM open up Hope Gardens Family Center, but only one downtown business stepped up that day to help us with a financial gift to make it happen. 

Los Angeles has been the reigning capital of homelessness for far too long, and we have needed and we need everyone on board to end the reign and make sure that there is not one precious person living on the streets of our great city.  Only then can we live up to our name, the City of Angels.

I am curious as to how the number $875 Million now spent on people experiencing chronic homelessness was arrived at?  I have asked for the printout, but have not received.  I am almost certain SSI and Social Security payments were not included, and they should not be, because those payments will not go away, but will hopefully be directed towards paying rent at the proposed permanent supportive housing.  We have introduced the Chamber to a tool that could help better direct the payments to this cause.  If by chance the number was derived by adding the total budgets of institutions and agencies like Union Rescue Mission that would be a mistake, because only part of our overall budget is directed towards the minority, the folks devastated by long term chronic homelessness, which is only 10% to 20% of the total population of precious people experiencing homelessness.  More than ½ of URM’s budget is directed towards the other 80% to 90%, the folks experiencing episodic or those experiencing homelessness for the 1^st time — folks who are efficiently and effectively served by emergency services, life transformation programs, transitional housing, and rapid re-housing. 

One size does not fit all in this situation. It would be too costly to provide the capital for permanent supportive housing to 80% to 90% of the population of people in need.  And it would do a disservice to folks who with a little help are ready willing and able to get back on their feet and into the mainstream work force.  Inclusion of the costs of these programs into the $875 Million total would be a wrong attribution of cost in serving people experiencing chronic homelessness.  If the services to the 80% to 90% would go away, and move only to serve people who are suffering from chronic homelessness, leaving them on the streets, some of those 80% to 90% could drop into the category of chronic homelessness.

If part of the cost included in the $875 Million is fire, police, paramedic, ER visits, hospital visits and medical costs, those may possibly decrease if the permanent supportive housing is bolstered by sufficient supportive services, adequate security and solid management, but those costs will not go away completely.  All need to understand that these precious folks are often mentally and physically very ill.  And most are battling addictions. The years on the streets have not been kind to their minds, bodies or souls. It would be naïve to think that emergency calls and medical care would decrease sharply. We have had numerous emergency calls and 3 deaths, including at least 1 murder, in our immediate area in permanent housing just this week alone.  In fact, if the permanent supportive housing is not bolstered by costly sufficient support services, adequate honest security, and solid management, the emergency costs, death rate, and precious human cost could go up.  In the midst of our enthusiasm to provide this missing piece of the puzzle in serving the most devastated by long term homelessness with the best option, solid costly permanent supportive housing, we need to be accurate and not compare apples and oranges. 

I also take exception to the statement in the press release regarding the Chamber’s and United Way’s initiative, and that is to model after what Santa Monica is doing in regards to homelessness.  Certainly, we should follow in their footsteps in providing more permanent supportive housing, but not follow in their overall response to homelessness. 

From what I and others serving people experiencing homelessness have observed, Santa Monica has followed in the footsteps of Pasadena and others who have adopted the theology of The Field Of Dreams, “If you build it they will come”, in their approach to providing overall services to people experiencing homelessness acting as if by not providing services you can stop the production of people experiencing homelessness.  Choosing to require I.D.’s to prove your residency in a specific city before receiving services and believing that merely setting up a continuum of care that works efficiently for the city government is the key while leaving many who struggle with homelessness on the streets.  Now the City of Glendale, believing that the provision of a Winter Shelter last year caused the increase of people experiencing homelessness, plans to follow in the footsteps of Santa Monica after this coming Winter Season, and require proof of residency in Glendale before being served, shrink the numbers served at their Winter Shelter from 150 to 50, and turn to the architect of Pasadena’s continuum of care to operate their shelter.  If anything, we need to expand the Winter Shelters and make them year round as stated in http://youarethemission.org  Step 7!

We know that emergency services, “3 hots and a cot”, limited case management and some support services are not the ultimate answer for precious people devastated by long-term homelessness, and strongly agree that solid permanent supportive housing is the best answer for chronic homelessness.  But until enough housing with support can be accomplished, we need to continue doing all that we can to keep people off of the streets. We need a both/and approach until sufficient supportive units are complete. 

We give a solid thumbs up to the Chamber and United Way in making a bold effort to end chronic homelessness in Los Angeles!  We will be there to sign on Dec. 1^st, and we firmly believe that this is 1 of 10 crucial steps to ending homelessness in our great city. 

Blessings,

Union Rescue Mission is facing both a tremendous opportunity, and an overwhelming challenge.  We have just completed the Sycamore Building at Hope Gardens Family Center thanks to a capital gift from the County Homeless and Housing Prevention Fund approximately two years ago.  Renovation is complete, and we plan an exciting move of 12-14 families, moms with children,  directly from our 4^th Floor at downtown URM surrounded by the mean streets of Skid Row, to the peace, safety and beauty of Hope Gardens Family Center.

To add to that exciting news, we just received word that the Ahmanson Foundation, without even an official ask from URM, stepped up to provide the much needed funds to completely renovate our final building, the Concord Building at Hope Gardens, and we expect another move of 12 to 14 families, moms and children, from URM to Hope Gardens in March.  This great news, along with plans to open a Los Angeles Homeless Authority funded project for nine families at 83^rd and Broadway, and a move of our year round shelter for 8 families to a site just off of West Adams, has us on the brink of carrying out a long awaited hope and plan to finally succeed in moving every child and mom away from the mean streets of Skid Row and out to a much more child friendly environment. 

This has been the plan of the Board of Directors and staff of URM all along, and frankly, it is one of 3 legacies that I had in my heart when I came through the door of URM nearly 6 years ago.  

We have the resources to complete the projects to pull this off, and we are so thankful for this, but here comes the overwhelming challenge.  We have a $750,000 gap in our operating funds to pull this off.  We hoped to fill this gap with a continued County subsidy of $62,500 per month to Hope Gardens, believing that they would support our carrying out of their mandate to get every child off of Skid Row and out of Union Rescue Mission, but to date we have been unsuccessful.  I have reached out to the County Board of Supervisors, and we have asked our faithful donors to reach out to their County Supervisor in hopes that this vital funding would come through, but to date, we have not been successful.  I have assured the County that if they do not respond and we fall short in funding, kids will be left on Skid Row, and that will be their decision.

Your amazing heart and faith is our final hope of accomplishing this tremendous history making goal this year.  If you could respond in yet another unprecedented way, and we could raise an additional, unexpected, $750,000 by December 31^st of this year, we could move ahead with plans to get every single mom and child off of Skid Row and to a beautiful place of safety and hope and a ladder out of homelessness and poverty. 

Thank you, for your amazing faithfulness to this Mission, especially during these last few very difficult years. Do you know that together, we have rescued more than 1800 precious children from the streets of LA since the recession hit families so hard in December of 2008?  Amazing!

Now it is time to move these precious children from URM on LA’s Skid Row to a place that they deserve!  If we fall short, moms and kids will be left on Skid Row. Please give what you can!  Thank you!  Andy B.

For my blog this week I’d like to do something different. I heard my friend Roddy share his story last Saturday night at a fundraising event.  He was to share, and then I would be the keynote speaker. When Roddy finished sharing his story, the saintly Pastor turned to me and said, “How are you going to top that?” I assure you that I did not top it!

I was struck by a theme that I have encountered many times from men who experience homelessness, men who I have talked with, over 300 men that I have surveyed, and even my own Dad. That common theme or denominator is often the loss of their mom at an early age.

Please read Roddy’s story. I believe you will better understand the struggles of a significant number of precious people experiencing homelessness.

By Roderick Rose

Ezekiel 17:24 (New International Version)

24 All the trees of the field will know that I the LORD bring down the tall tree and make the low tree grow tall. I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. ”‘I the LORD have spoken and I will do it.’ ”

I am here today to provide testimony about a remarkable, transformative event. Some of you may have heard my story before…

For the majority of my life I struggled with a poor self image. At the age of five I was abandoned by my mother and raised with a single father and two brothers, and we moved around from place to place because my father was in the military. I found it difficult to make the strong emotional bonds that are so needed in childhood. Socially, I was confused about how to fit in with my peers and suffered a lot of rejection. The most potent rejection I experienced was from my peers in my own race. Many of them told me that I was just too different. I wasn’t acceptable to them and I never could figure out why. I lived my life as an island floating through the oceans of the changing times and spaces. Abandonment and rejection left a deep spiritual and psychological wound that took many years to overcome.

The injuries eventually took their toll on me and when the opportunity to erase that pain presented itself, I took advantage of it. I became a drug addict and alcoholic. I was in my addiction for 8 years. I grew accustomed to being destitute, needy, and unstable, and emotionally disturbed.

In the worst years of my addiction, I came in contact with the Lord’s Lighthouse. As my face became more familiar to some of the staff and volunteers, I got an opportunity to build a relationship with people like Amie Quigley and Pastor Chuck.

Just the fact that two people of God were willing to have a decent conversation with me, with sincerity, I might add, was very encouraging for me. It was like they psychically knew that I longed for a meaningful connection. Their concern for me was evident when they would either take me out for coffee or visit me at my camp site across the street from the Lord’s Lighthouse.

And it was at that campsite, when two years ago, I made my next move. It wasn’t to another city or another state. It was a move downtown to the Union Rescue Mission, where I ran into another servant of the Lord, who I met previously during my time in the streets…Andy Bales, the CEO of the Union Rescue Mission. I enrolled in the Christian Life Discipleship Program there. Two weeks after arriving there, I went to God in prayer, and I asked him this: “Lord, will you save me? Will you take me back into your family? I will follow you now, but I have just one thing to ask of you. Will you please take away the self-hatred that I’ve had my entire life and will you give me joy? Because even though I’m here, I cannot do this program unless you remove this thing from me. If you do that, nothing will stand in my way from serving you”…And guess what? He did!

And after saying that prayer, I had the strength to do the program, graduate from the program, and nowadays I’m completing a one year apprenticeship at the URM. Right now I’m in my second semester of college, I’m starting my own business this coming spring, and I even have a fiancée (her name is Michelle) a woman who truly loves me. It is definitely a wonderful thing to find the woman that God has made for me… I now have more than two years clean and sober.

But I would have to say that my most cherished accomplishment is that I finally realized that God has always loved me and it was God who protected me, even if he had to discipline me, but nonetheless, He loved me and accepted me and brought me into his family. He loved me before I even loved myself. And I thank God now, that the love I have for myself, I can give to others. Thank You and God Bless!

¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17

I love these particular scripture verses.  I just heard my friend, Enock De Assis, the Missions Pastor of Bel Air Presbyterian Church preach on them last Sunday.  He shared that at a critical time in his young life, when his mom ended her own life, he found faith in Jesus Christ as His Savior and that faith is what rescued him from a life of despair. I can’t share his whole message in a blog post, but wanted to reflect on the words nonetheless.

Union Rescue Mission, myself, and our staff often get questions on why we are a faith-based ministry, why we ask employees and Board members to sign a statement of faith.  At times the discussions are quite critical –we’ve even lost grants and funding support because we are a faith/Christ-based ministry.

Despite the questions and objections and even the loss of funding, we remain a Christ-based ministry, because as the passages above say, the Gospel is where our power comes from.  The Greek word is dunamis, like dynamite!

Lots of people do good things for many excellent reasons.  We at URM do good because of our faith in Jesus Christ.   We are compelled to follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.  And yes, we believe, we do all that we do with the superhuman power given to us by Jesus Christ as we believe in and depend on Him.

Some say, “Well can’t you do good without sharing with your guests what you believe?”

We could, but then we would be remiss in not sharing the good news of why we do what we do and who we are. When personally asked this question, my answer is:

“What good is it, if I feed and provide houses for folks but don’t share my faith –the core beliefs that give me purpose and hope and not only keeps me going, but at times, miraculously deliver me, and as we have seen at URM, transform others?”  (I will get to those miracles in my next blog that will focus on “The Righteous shall live by faith!”)

When I first started working at a Rescue Mission 24 years ago, I walked unaware into a controversy.  A Mission with a Christ-based ministry had allowed friends to come onto their board of directors who did not share the same belief in Jesus Christ.  I was a young 27 year-old, brand new to the organization, and seated at the Board of Directors meeting.  I was probably expected to keep my mouth closed which is very difficult for me!

A motion was made and seconded to strike the words Jesus Christ from being mentioned at this Christ-based ministry. The Executive Director, a Chaplain, turned red in the face. I was in shock. I knew Romans 1:16-17 by heart from memorizing it in my youth.  Without hesitation I declared:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes!”

The meeting erupted for a moment.  Some around the table spoke to me in anger.  But the cool calm Chairman of the Board quickly called the meeting back to order.  There was a vote, and it was a draw, 6 to 6. 6 to continue as a Christ-based ministry, and 6 to discontinue speaking the name of Jesus Christ at this particular mission.  A rare tie at a Board of Directors meeting could cause an issue to be tabled for further discussion, or could go to the Chair for a deciding vote.  Our cool calm Chairman, courageously decided to cast a vote.  This man I will never forget voted to continue as a Christ-based ministry, which allowed us to keep preaching the Gospel of Christ, the dynamic power, to those who would volunteer to hear.

This testimony to my friend, the Board Chair, really displays that dynamic power in itself.  I shared this story at his funeral and his family members approached me after the funeral, upset, and proclaimed “that faith thing, that is not what Dad was all about. He was more involved in Union Organizing and you hardly mentioned that!”

So here it was, a man whose closest family didn’t even recognize his faith in Jesus Christ, at a critical moment in the life of a Christ-based ministry boldly cast the deciding vote to keep the ministry Christ-based! Where did that kind of courage come from?  It came from the same source that has kept URM alive and well for 119 incredible years of Christian ministry.  Why would we ever, for any reason, funding or not, withdraw ourselves from that dynamic source of power, the power that comes from our faith in Jesus Christ.

I will never forget the night that my team in Des Moines, Iowa and I were out with our van full of volunteers bringing BBQ’d chicken, baked beans, veggies, cold drinks, and coffee to folks who were either experiencing homelessness or just on the streets of a struggling neighborhood east of Drake University. We drove past a beautiful young lady, walking the streets selling herself, and I jumped out of the van, gave her a meal, and declared to her, “You are too beautiful of a creation of God to be doing this to yourself!”

I am not sure what had gotten into me, as I didn’t often operate that way. The young lady introduced herself as Susie. I gave her my card, and she thanked me. A few days later I got a call from Susie asking for help. She said that if I brought a food box to her and helped her with 1 week of rent for her room, she would get off of the streets forever. I did not go alone. I took my friend and associate Scott Larsen, and we carried a food box in, sat down, and visited with Susie. I never saw Susie again, not on the street anyway!

I was walking through the lobby of our church 6 months later, and a beautiful redheaded girl ran up to me. “Andy, Andy! Do you remember me? It’s Susie! I have a job. I have my own place. I am doing well! I am going to get my kids back!” 6 months later, I received another call from Susie. “Andy, I know you’ve started a program for families experiencing homelessness! My kids are with me now, and I have more furniture than I need. I want to donate my furniture to your program!”

Susie’s story is amazing. Miraculous transformations of peoples’ lives usually take a long time and a lot of effort on everyones’ part, but I had witnessed a miraculous turnaround in response to one kind statement! It showed me the incredible power of words.

In a completely different situation, I had the honor of preaching on Father’s Day in a church. I preached an incredibly powerful encouraging message, powerful because I described my own Dad. I specifically remember a young Dad in our church thanking me after the message because it had greatly encouraged him as he was struggling to be a good father and husband. The next year, we heard from a different speaker on Fathers Day. He preached what I felt was a legalistic, judgmental, condemning message. This same young Dad was in the audience. After the service he immediately went out of the church, into a park, and hung himself from a tree.

Whoever said, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me!” was kidding themselves. Words are powerful. They can lift someone up, or they can take someone down and destroy them. Jesus spoke about the power of words to do harm:
Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV)
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Personally, I’d much rather be physically pummeled than to be pounded with harsh words.

As I left a previous position, some of the folks in authority described me as “mentally ill” because of my passion for people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Those words still hurt nearly 6 years later. However I was able to laugh a bit the other day when I recollected the comments in front of a friend and she said, “Well, yes, you are! That is why I love you!”

Truthfully, the words back then hurt me deeply, but immediately after it happened a friend took me in my office and told me, “Andy. You are a good man. A great man!” Those were healing words and meant more to me than he will ever know.

I didn’t know it at the time, but a man I thought was a “friend” took that “mentally ill” description of me and worked hard to keep me from serving here at Union Rescue Mission. I am so thankful that his incredibly vicious words were not taken seriously, and that the leadership of URM recognized my passion for people who are struggling as the very thing they were looking for in a leader and allowed me to put that passion to use here in this wonderful place that offers hope and healing.

Now its happened again! Someone has tried to use false words and rumors to do harm to URM and our precious families at Hope Gardens Family Center. This is the letter I wrote in response. I hope my words are powerful enough to stop the attack dead in its tracks!

Dear Honorable County Supervisors & Staff,

I am writing today with concern about some unfortunate misinformation being passed between County Offices and your staff regarding Union Rescue Mission and Hope Gardens Family Center. I received word that this misinformation is causing some hesitancy to assist URM as we attempt to move our single moms and children off of Skid Row and out to Hope Gardens Family Center.

We heard a report that a staff member in a County Office reported that donations to URM do not go to our local guests but are used overseas instead. This is inaccurate and unfortunate.

We have over the years, as a small part of our work, paid a comparably small fee, to send Gift in Kind supplies overseas to assist people experiencing homelessness and poverty in other countries, as with the earthquake crisis in Haiti, where we sent over $1 Million in medical supplies for a total cost to URM of $12,500. In FY2009 we paid $351,514 and shipped supplies valued at $25,044,000 In FY2010 we paid $312,625 and shipped items valued at $25,695,000.

This fiscal year, because of the recession and the great local need, we have scaled that back even more to paying $75,000 in fees to ship supplies valued at $6,000,000. At this time, we do not know where our support will be needed, but if we have another disaster like Haiti we will proudly send resources to support those efforts. This $75,000 spent abroad compares to nearly $26,000,000 to be spent here locally to assist people experiencing homelessness in LA County.

Meanwhile, we continue to be the only agency in Los Angeles that houses two parent families, single dads with children, single moms with children, and teenage children; house over 1,000 people experiencing homelessness each night, nearly 1800 during Winter Shelter season, and we fed nearly 1.3 Million meals to people experiencing homelessness last year, and expect to do more this year as we face the most challenging time in our history.

No one in the County has stepped up like we have to assist LA County residents in this battle against homelessness, and it is very unfortunate that a false report has gone out from a County Supervisor’s office and created a hesitancy to support URM/Hope Gardens as we attempt to move all of our single moms and children away from Skid Row and out to Hope Gardens Family Center, to the LAHSA funded West Adams Project Restart, and to a County supported new site for 8 families at 83rd and Broadway.

We absolutely cannot be successful in this bold move without continued County Support for Hope Gardens, and I encourage you to look at the facts and consider moving away from this hesitancy due to an unfounded report, and instead move to support the good work of URM at Hope Gardens Family Center. Thank you, for your past and future support.

Bless you,

Andy Bales

Please pray that the truth will be revealed through my letter and that the County Supervisors and staff will help us care for the men, women and children who are counting on us because they have nowhere else to turn. Thank you, friends!!

Last week during an interview with friend and writer for the LA Daily News, Troy Anderson, I shared that the challenge Union Rescue Mission is facing right now is far greater than the challenge URM faced during the Great Depression of the 1930’s.  Troy was startled by this statement and asked “Can you provide statistical data to back that up?” I replied, “Yes, I can.”

I quickly asked our URM historian, Liz Mooradian, to assist me in some research and did some checking of my own.  We learned that there were 1.2 Million people in Los Angeles in 1933, and in our hall of history on our 2^nd floor it states that in 1933, URM was one of few Missions in downtown LA, and we fed 42% of the free meals to hungry people in Los Angeles.  That year, we provided 133,145 meals and gave aid (food boxes, job finding assistance, etc.) to 304 families.  All of our history books show that we did not house families during the Great Depression, but housed only men.  Families appear to have either turned to other family members or stayed in tents like my own father’s family did many times during that difficult time as shown in the picture below. 

In 2010, there are 3.6 Million people in Los Angeles, or 3 times the number of people that there were in 1933. Union Rescue Mission served an astounding 1,284,687 meals, or nearly 10 times the number of meals that URM served during that difficult year of 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression.  And when you consider that unlike 1933, Union Rescue Mission is not one of the few Missions in downtown LA anymore, but rather the biggest one of many, the fact that nearly 1.3 Million meals came from URM alone, demonstrates how staggering the situation really is.

During the Great Depression, URM provided 42% of free meals available in LA and 2% of available beds. I am unsure as to what percentage of meals we are providing today, but we are providing nearly 10% of the available beds! Along with a 3 times proportionate challenge on meals, in 2010 URM housed several hundred families over the course of the year and as many as 94 families & 190 children on any given night. 

Please hear the distress and familiarity of the words in our annals from the Great Depression:

After the depression, as after World War I, the financial situation was such that local churches were hard pressed to meet their own budgets and doors once open to the Mission (URM) for monetary appeals were closing.

Business failures increased the numbers of unemployed and distressed who looked to the Mission for assistance. Many who arrived in California thinking it a glorious land of promise found themselves penniless and alone. 

The scope of the Mission’s work in those days was immense; no local church would have dreamed, on such meager resources and with so limited staff, of engaging in such a program.

The final URM note from the Great Depression Days is not necessarily an encouraging one, but one during this great crisis of 2007-2010 that I completely understand:

Mounting financial pressures came to the explosive point in July, 1936. With income insufficient to meet operating expenses and a $19,000 mortgage against the Mission properties, the Board of Directors voted to vacate the position of superintendent (CEO), and with this step Superintendent Eldridge’s services were terminated. 

Now, please hear the distress in my words.  Union Rescue Mission and our families and precious children living here and throughout the USA have never in history faced a greater challenge than the one we are facing right now.  Children under the age of 18 now make up 54% of people experiencing homelessness! 

Here are just a few headlines from around the country:

Family homelessness rising in the United States- http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE4AB18I20081112

Shocker! More Families Are Homeless- http://homelessness.change.org/blog/view/shocker_more_families_are_homeless

Increase in family homelessness impact children the most –http://www.examiner.com/x-25447-LA-Unemployment-Examiner~y2009m10d22-Increase-in-family-homelessness-impact-children-the-most

More Families Are Becoming Homeless-http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/11/AR2009071102099.html

Over and above URM’s heroic efforts during the Great Depression, our team at Union Rescue Mission and I, with your help,  have boldly stepped up to the challenge of welcoming every family who has come to our doors over the last 3 years. We desperately need your continued support. We are committed to making sure no child is left on the streets of our city. No child should ever suffer from the devastation of homelessness.  My father did, and the pain of that experience stayed with him and he shared it with me in his final days while he was on his death bed.  He told me that at the age of 4 he hung onto his Dad’s neck for his life as his Dad jumped on a freight car to move to California. He had several homeless experiences when he was 4, 9 and 14.  He is pictured below, at age 14, standing outside of his “home”, a tent in Azusa Canyon, California.  He lived in tents, garages, sheds, even cars and freight cars at times.

My dad’s eyes welled up with tears every time he discussed the pain and embarrassment of being homeless.  I believe his pain is a part of what drives me.  I see my Dad in each and every one of the precious kids who we are honored to serve here at URM.  Please continue to support us so that we can continue to step up to the need and welcome each person who comes to us. 

Much love, Andy B.

I have to admit, this is the 1^st day in over 5 years when I was not eager to come into work at Union Rescue Mission.  My eyes welled up with tears as I drove up to my parking place this morning. Tears streamed as I signed the severance checks and good-bye letters to 11 of our faithful co-workers.

As I write, there is a man on the streets of Skid Row outside, deeply troubled, and yelling at the top of his lungs about the circumstances of his world. This morning, I completely understand his anger. 

This is the letter that each of our departing heroic co-workers received this morning:

It is with great sorrow that I let you know that due to necessary budget cuts; Union Rescue Mission has been forced to remove your position and end your time as an employee of Union Rescue Mission. 

Our Board of Directors gave us a mandate to present a balanced budget, and after a couple of attempts, we finally did.  Although I was thankful that we could save Union Rescue Mission and keep Hope Gardens open while presenting a balanced budget, I was deeply anguished over what this meant for you and other valuable members of our team. 

This round of reductions is the one that hurts the very most.  We had to go painfully deep in hopes that this will be the final round of lay-offs. We have to release employees who have not only done their job, but employees who have performed their duties very well. We have had to let go of cherished former graduates, grads who we are very proud of, from our very own URM program who have been doing a very good job.  This really hurts, and what hurts the most is how this affects you and your family.  I personally apologize that this has happened on my watch.  I have spent many sleepless nights, including last night, trying to figure out another way. I am so sorry.

Thank you, for your diligent efforts.  Thank you, for sharing your time and talent with our guests and staff. Thank you, for your personal sacrifice, taking the pay reductions, losing your 401K match, stepping up to help with your benefits, and still showing up every day to give your best.  This decision is not about you or your performance, but is all about the economy and the difficult times.

Your sacrifice and efforts will not be forgotten.  Your story and commitment will forever be written on our wall of history, part of the group that stepped up in 2007-2010 to serve even 3 times the need that URM experienced during the Great Depression.  Unfortunately, this Great Recession continues to challenge us and has led us to this heart-wrenching decision today.   

Union Rescue Mission and I will be praying for you and hoping for nothing but the best. You are always welcome to stop by, visit, and perhaps volunteer.  We will always welcome you as an honored guest.

Friends, please keep each one of these, our precious former co-workers in your prayers.  Keep URM and our guests in your prayers.  One of the ways that I made it through the weekend, barely made it through the weekend, was to not only grieve this loss, but to also thank God that somehow in His grace and goodness he allowed URM and Hope Gardens to continue on, and He allowed you and I to keep our jobs during this difficult time. Know as well, that receiving this letter means that you have done a remarkable job during this difficult time and that you are absolutely essential to the ongoing operations of URM and Hope Gardens Family Center.  Please take time to grieve, but take some time to give thanks as well. 

We will hold a Town Hall after Chapel today to de-brief about these difficult budget decisions and how to proceed this next fiscal year.

Bless you,  Andy B.