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

“I know the dark side. I’ve seen it and lived it — I know what evil is,” says “Pops,” a 68-year-old guest at Union Rescue Mission.

Pops grew up the son of a sadistic, alcoholic father who beat him almost daily. He still carries the scars from the whip his father used. By the time he was a teenager, Pops turned his hurt and rage into a string of armed robberies and car thefts. He ended up in prison at age 19, where he quickly earned a reputation as one of its meanest men.

After his release in 1968, he started smuggling drugs. After several ruthless gun battles with rival drug smugglers on the Mexican border, they dubbed him “El Diablo” — The Devil.

By 1983, Pops was one of the most influential drug dealers on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, where he dealt addiction, misery, and death for 26 years. Yet Pops’ own heroin and alcohol addiction slowly sapped the life out of him.

“By 2009,” he says, “I knew I was dying. My legs were black, I couldn’t walk, and I’d burned out every vein on my body from the needles. One night, God spoke to me and told me to go to Union Rescue Mission. I couldn’t fight anymore, so I did.”

For two months, Pops sat by a trash can vomiting and praying God would give him the grace to make it another day.

As his body healed, the love and grace he experienced at the Mission started to heal his soul. “One day, I went to my chaplain’s office and I started weeping and I haven’t stopped since. I’ve never experienced love before. But the love I experienced here saved my life,” Pops says.

“Colossians 1:13 says it all: ‘For God has rescued me from the dominion of darkness and brought me into the kingdom of the Son He loves.’”

Today, Pops’ only desire is to return to the streets where he used to deal death to get as many men, women, and children off those streets as possible. He’s already persuaded nine men and women to get help at the Mission.

“If anyone knows these streets, I do,” he says. “I’ve been in the worst areas with the meanest people. And I’ve seen the kids. When I see those kids now, I just start crying. I want to help them. And I believe that’s what God wants me to do.”

After a lifetime of dealing in darkness, Pops now lives in the light, where you’ll find him walking every day with tears of gratitude.

Our Winter of Discontent

After a lifetime of dealing in darkness, Pops now lives in the light, where you’ll find him walking every day with tears of gratitude. For more than five years, the numbers of people living outside on the streets of Skid Row were dropping. A couple of years ago, their number had dropped to 600 — which is still tragic, but far better than the thousands of people living on these streets 10 years ago. But this winter, the unthinkable has happened. Due to the economy, more people being let out of prison, more lost jobs and lost savings, and a decline in government services, the number of people living on the sidewalks and back alleys on Skid Row has more than doubled to nearly 1,700.

This winter they face bone-chilling rain and cold, nights without sleep, weather related sicknesses, and some will even die. We must take action.

Thanks to your support, Union Rescue Mission offers an additional 140 beds to hurting men and women every cold, rainy night — and we use that opportunity to invite every one of them to come in out of the rain and change their lives permanently. Our love, care, and humanity for hurting people demands it. I wish we could do more. But thanks to you, we’re doing what we can.

Blessings,

Rev. Andy Bales

Have You Created Your 120 Fund Yet?

I hope you will join us as we celebrate our 120th birthday — and 120 years of bringing compassion, love, and hope to people on the streets of Los Angeles.

None of this work would have been possible without the support of friends like you. YOU are the Mission. That’s why we hope you will go to urm.org/120 and create your own personal fundraising page.

Your birthday gift will help feed, shelter, and restore precious souls experiencing homelessness. Thank you.

Called to Cook

 

Thanks to generous people like you, men like Larry will discover God’s perfect recipe for a transformed life this Thanksgiving season.

They say everyone has a spiritual gift. Mine is cooking — though I didn’t know it until recently. For more than 50 years, the only things I ever “cooked up” were drugs, alcohol, and a wrecked life.

The child of an alcoholic, suicidal mother, I grew up rebellious and angry at the world. I started drinking and using drugs myself at 15. I also carried a knife and gun wherever I went, and I never hesitated to use them. Thankfully, I never killed anyone.

I refused to let anyone tell me what to do. Not even my wife. But I never expected her to leave me. When she walked out in 1999, it devastated me so bad I gave up on life, and for six years I lived on the streets of Pasadena.

Then I met Andy Bales.

Andy was ministering out of Lake Avenue Congregational Church at that time. I’d never met anyone who cared for me like he did. He never gave up on me. One day he said, “Larry, you’re a good man.” No one had ever said that to me. Then he asked, “Are you ready to change your life?”

I was ready. Andy introduced me to Jesus and gave me my first job as a cook. And later, when he started working as CEO of Union Rescue Mission, he invited me to start cooking here, as well.

Today I’m the head chef at the Mission, and I’m responsible for serving 3,500 meals every day to all the men, women, and children who seek our help. This November will mark my sixth time preparing a Thanksgiving feast at Union Rescue Mission for nearly 4,500 at one time! And no one is more grateful than me.

I’ve never been to cooking school. No one ever taught me how to cook. But God has given me a gift for it. And I’m never alone when I do it. It sounds funny, but when I’m cooking, the Holy Spirit shows me exactly what I need to do — and it works.

But as special as cooking here at the Mission is to me, what matters more are the men who work with me. Most of these men wrecked their lives just like me. But not only has God given me the privilege of training them to cook, I also get to share my own experience with them and show them how good God is and how to keep Him in their lives. Cooking great meals, helping men discover the Lord’s recipe for a great life — these mean the world to me. God, the Master Chef, is truly good.

Spare Change for a Special Thanksgiving

 

Union Rescue Mission will serve more than 80,000 meals this Thanksgiving season, and your spare change will make a huge difference. Just go online to download a special Savings Jar label at urm.org/savingsjarlabels.  Then attach the label to the biggest container you can find and collect change daily. Then send a check for that total amount to Union Rescue Mission!

Serving Up New Life

I first met Chef Larry at a small ministry I once ran in Pasadena called Villa 500. I could tell immediately he was giving up on life. And I couldn’t let him.

He started helping me cook meals, and we became instant buddies. As I got to know him, I discovered a kind, gentle, caring soul with a lot to give back. So when I came to Union Rescue Mission, I invited him to work in our kitchen. Today, he not only cooks our meals, he shares his life with other guys and gives them hope that they can make it too.

This Thanksgiving will mark our sixth together, deep-frying almost 500 turkeys all night long to serve nearly 4,500 precious guests seeking a holiday meal.

At Union Rescue Mission, when someone asks for our help, no matter how hurt or damaged they are, we see the possibilities in them. We offer them hope and give them every opportunity to succeed. You never know when you’ll find another Chef Larry.

Blessings,

Andy Bales, CEO