November 16, 2015

The Mission — November 2015

Marisa’s Merry Christmas

How you are giving a precious child and her family the chance to rebuild their lives — and learn the real meaning of Christmas.

When I was younger, I thought Christmas was all about decorations, looking at Christmas lights, and getting presents,” says 12-year-old Marisa. “But it’s really about Jesus. I didn’t know that before I came to Hope Gardens. Now He’s my real dad.” That’s important to Marisa because her birth father was a raging alcoholic who emotionally and physically abused his family. He controlled their movements through intimidation and threats, often keeping them prisoner in their own home. And he’s now in jail for other child-related crimes. Marisa is just one of nearly 80 children who live with their moms at Union Rescue Mission’s Hope Gardens Family Center, a 77-acre sanctuary that offers transitional housing to families experiencing homelessness like Marisa’s. “She’s changed so much since we got here,” says Marisa’s mother, Jessica. “She’s beautiful, talented, and smart. I’m so proud of her.” Marisa came to Hope Gardens, along with her mother and younger brother, in February 2014, after struggling with homelessness for three years after the arrest of her father. Because of the abuse and trauma she experienced growing up, Marisa has trouble remembering much about her childhood. But she is opening up and thriving, thanks to the care she gets at Hope Gardens. “I like Hope Gardens,” she says. “I met my two best friends here.” She’s also very involved in the praise dance group, Bible studies, and other activities. “But the best thing about Hope Gardens,” she says, “is that my mom and I got to know each other better. Before, we were always stuck in bad situations. Now we’re safe and we get to spend more time talking about stuff.” She also enjoyed spending last Christmas at Hope Gardens. “We watched Christmas movies, made wreaths and stockings, and we even built a gingerbread house,” she recalls. “We also worshipped Jesus. And that’s important, because I know I’m a better person than I was before I met Him.” Like any child, Marisa still enjoys the excitement of opening presents on Christmas morning. But thanks to friends like you, Christmas means so much more now. And she can look forward to a real future when all is calm. And all is bright.

Celebrating 125 years of Transformed Lives

In 2016, Union Rescue Mission will celebrate 125 years of continuous service to people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles. URM was founded in 1891, when we took to the streets in gospel wagons to offer food, clothing, and salvation to the less fortunate. Over the years URM has continued and expanded its efforts to feed both the body and the soul, helping individuals and families break the cycle of poverty and achieve self-sufficiency.

But really, for 125 years, the work of Union Rescue Mission has been YOURS — YOU are the Mission. Your faithfulness and generosity has transformed countless lives. Stay tuned over the coming weeks and months in 2016, as we celebrate YOU and God’s faithful care for precious men, women, and children.

Grateful Awareness of Mercy: Watch how God brought Alan to the Mission and how Alan learned that God wants you as you are. Through God’s mercy and love, Alan now knows he is good enough.

urm.org/stories

Time’s Running Out

When you make a gift of any kind to Union Rescue Mission before December 31, not only will you make the New Year brighter for men and women experiencing homelessness, you will receive a charitable tax deduction on your 2015 tax return.

Please Donate Today!

For more information, please call Armi Ramirez at
(213) 673-4825 or send an email to aramirez@urm.org.

Asleep in Heavenly Peace — At Last

Marisa’s mother, Jessica, experiences Christmas happiness at Hope Gardens Family Center.

Christmas is probably my only good memory from childhood. My mom loved Christmas and went all out every year — decorations, lights, Christmas cookies, the big tree, everything. The problem was the rest of the year. Both my parents were addicts, and my father was also physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive. There was never much love in our home. Then I met my husband when I was 21. At first, I thought he was kind and just wanted me to stay home so he could take care of me. We had two children together — Marisa, who’s 12, and Jesse, who’s 9. We were married for 11 awful years. He drank every day, all day. He was so controlling, we could never leave the house. The kids weren’t allowed to have friends. We lived in constant fear. I tried to escape many times, but I just couldn’t make it on my own. We only got out after my husband went to jail. But we struggled with homelessness for three years before we finally came to Hope Gardens. We’ve been here for a year and a half now, and I can’t believe how blessed we are. It’s so beautiful here. My kids and I are safe, we have our own space with room to breathe, we can relax, and I feel like we’re getting to know each other for the first time without all the fear and trauma hanging over us. And there are so many other great mothers here who each make me stronger. The classes here have also helped me grow into a stronger, healthier, mature woman and mother. They taught me better financial management. We’ve all received Bibles, we’re going to church, and we’re growing in our faith. And now I’m preparing to go back to work. Last Christmas, here at Hope Gardens, was the best ever. In fact, I can say it was the first time in my life I was ever happy. My kids got to relax and be kids. We didn’t have any money, but thanks to Union Rescue Mission’s Christmas Store, I got to give presents to them. We celebrated the birth of Jesus together, because without him we have nothing. And we celebrated our new lives. This Christmas, I really will sleep in heavenly peace.

Notes from Andy

125 Years of Mission

In just a few weeks, Christians will celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, when Jesus brought healing and hope to a world filled with fear, cruelty, darkness, physical and spiritual hunger, and hopelessness.

Beginning in January 2016, we’ll also celebrate another birth of healing and hope — the 125th anniversary of Union Rescue Mission’s birth on Skid Row. That’s 125 years of bringing the hope and transforming power of Jesus to precious human beings struggling to survive on these mean, cruel streets.

In many ways, Skid Row is worse than ever. But there’s still hope, especially inside Union Rescue Mission, where Christ’s Light still shines, where peace dwells, and where lives are transformed for eternity. It’s our mission. But it’s not really our Mission. It’s yours. For 125 years, thousands and thousands of lives have been saved on Skid Row, because thousands and thousands of generous, caring people like you have partnered with Jesus, and with us, to bring His hope and healing into the dark world.

So in 2016, we plan to celebrate — to celebrate 125 years of Jesus’ presence on Skid Row, and to celebrate YOU. Because YOU make it all possible.

To read Andy’s blog, please visit revandysblog.com

URM’s 25th Annual Christmas Store

Give Kids Experiencing Homelessness Joy at Christmas

Thanksgiving and Christmas can be difficult for families experiencing homelessness. But for 25 years, Union Rescue Mission’s Christmas Store has brought joy into their lives when they needed it most.

This year, thousands of precious children at Union Rescue Mission, Hope Gardens Family Center, and other agencies serving underprivileged kids throughout the greater Los Angeles area, will receive brand-new gifts because of the 25th annual Christmas Store.

On December 10, more than 700 moms and dads with little or no income will enjoy the dignity of being able to provide their children with gifts they select themselves (for free) and give to their children personally.

All year-round, Union Rescue Mission embraces people experiencing homelessness with the compassion of Christ, and offers healing and hope to help them find their way home. And thanks to the Christmas Store — and generous friends like you — hundreds of families will find that new hope this holiday season.

For information about donating toys to the Christmas Store this year, please contact Victor Ortiz at (213) 316-2779.

Give Hurting People Something Meaningful — Hope

For most of us, the holiday season is a magical time of excitement and anticipation, gifts, good food, and time spent with loved ones. But for men, women, and children on Skid Row, Christmas is often a painful time without presents, food, a home — or even hope.

At Union Rescue Mission and Hope Gardens Family Center, however, men, women, and children experiencing homelessness will wake up with Christmas joy — and the hope for a new life — thanks to generous people like you.

This holiday season, your generous gift of $25, $35, or more will help provide special holiday meals, clothing, and shelter — and, yes, hope — to hurting individuals and families at Union Rescue Mission and Hope Gardens. Please send the most generous gift you can today. Thank you!

For more information or to put your gift to work even faster, go to urm.org/ChristmasHope

Sign Up for Rev. Andy’s Advent Email Devotionals

The season of Advent leading up to Christmas is a wonderful time for thoughtful reflection and joyful anticipation as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

This holiday season, please sign up to receive Rev. Andy’s Advent series of daily devotional emails. Each day from now until December 25, you’ll receive scripture and messages focused on the Joy of the Season. To sign up for these special email devotionals, please visit urm.org/AdventDevotionals

Because of you: Kenneth’s Story

After my parents got divorced when I was in high school, I ended up living with friends, in group homes, and in foster care while my parents battled over custody. When my dad finally got custody, however, we didn’t have adequate housing, so we came to Union Rescue Mission in December 2008. Union Rescue Mission gave us a roof over our heads and gave me the stability I needed.

We left Union Rescue Mission in March 2010. Today, I’m a graduate of Loyola Marymount University and now I’m planning to go to law school. One day
I hope to go into politics and run for office so I can make an everlasting difference in the areas of homelessness, foster care, and elder treatment.
My goal is to one day be mayor of Los Angeles, and eventually governor
of California.

October 13, 2015

The Mission – October 2015

“ Skid Row is horrible, like a nightmare . . . I completely wasted my life out there.”

“When you’re an addict, living on a sidewalk, Thanksgiving’s just another day to get high,” says Willie, who called the streets home for almost 25 years. “Skid Row is horrible, like a nightmare. Crowds of people smoking crack, shooting heroin, drinking. Rape. Prostitutes. I‘ve seen folks get their heads busted in for $2. I saw one guy crawl into a dumpster and get eaten up by rats. I completely wasted my life out there.” Skid Row is a long way from his middle-class childhood, when his life felt stable, when Thanksgivings were spent with family, good food, warm feelings, and laughter. Before the pain and confusion of his parents’ divorce sent him into an emotional tailspin, and he started hanging with the wrong friends. At 22, Willie discovered crack, and his life spiraled completely out of control. Drugs cost him his savings and his job. Then his home. He ended up in and out of jail too many times to count. When he was free, he ate, and sometimes slept, at the Missions on Skid Row, including Union Rescue Mission. “Crack and alcohol finally sent me to my knees, crying out for help,” he recalls. “I knew if I stayed out there much longer, I was going to die. I had people who cared about me — sisters, my mom, nieces and nephews. I needed help, so I came to Union Rescue Mission on November 11, 2013.”

“ I FEEL SO GOOD ABOUT MYSELF. I’M THANKFUL GOD NEVER GAVE UP ON ME.”

Willie took advantage of everything Union Rescue Mission offers: Bible studies, chapel service, physical fitness, work therapy, counseling with his chaplains, health care — he even got new teeth through the Mission’s dental clinic. But one of the highlights was Thanksgiving, he says. “I was here the past two Thanksgivings,” he recalls. “You can’t believe the number of people who come here to serve folks like me. Those folks really care, and they make a whole lot of people on these streets happy.

In fact, last Thanksgiving I got to help serve, too. “When you start ministering to someone else, all of a sudden, all your problems don’t seem so big. So now, whenever I can help someone else out, I’m going to do it. “God and my chaplains helped me through the whole program,” he continues. “This is the longest I’ve been sober in over 25 years. I’m healthy. I got my family back. I’m engaged to be married. And I feel so good about myself. I’m thankful God never gave up on me.”

Thanksgiving Meals and a Way Home — With Your Help Today

All year-round at Union Rescue Mission, your gifts offer precious men, women, and children experiencing homelessness with safe shelter, nutritious meals, long-term care — and even the help they need to find their way home. Thank you! But right now, due to California’s ongoing drought and a severe drop in food donations, we’re facing a severe crisis this holiday season — our busiest time of year. We desperately need your help! Your gift of $33.74 will provide 14 holiday meals!

It still costs just $2.41 to provide a holiday meal to a hungry man, woman, or child. This season, we expect to serve more than 180,000 meals. Your gift of $33.74 will help feed 14 people, $67.48 will help feed 28 people, or any amount you can send will help. So please give generously. Thank you!

To put your gift to work even faster, go to urm.org/ThxFamily

Special Opportunity to Love Your Neighbor!

On November 14, URM will hand out 3,000 special kits to all neighbors on Skid Row. These kits are filled with shampoo, soap, toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, razors, socks, and a special invitation to celebrate Thanksgiving with us at Union Rescue Mission. For just $3, you can provide one of these special kits to one of our Skid Row neighbors — and add a personalized blessing signed by YOU! Please check the special $3 box on your remit form, then sign the Blessing Card with your first name only. It’s a wonderful way to love your neighbor this holiday season!

I grew up in East L.A. I never thought I’d end up on the streets of Skid Row. But I got hooked on alcohol. I lost a good job. I lost my marriage. My drinking got so bad, my own family didn’t want me around. So I ended up homeless here. By October 2013, I was broken down, sick, crying, and defeated by life. Then I came to Union Rescue Mission. Thanks to this place, I opened my life to God. I found what I’d been missing all my life. I found the life God has for me. My family has welcomed me back and I’m even going back to school!

Notes from Andy

A Day of Gratitude and a Moment of Joy

People are pouring into Skid Row like never before. The sidewalks outside Union Rescue Mission are crowded and I’ve never seen so much desperation. It’s just chaos out there. But every Thanksgiving — thanks to your generous support — we take these precious folks away from their desperation for a day of joy. With music playing on the sidewalks, dancing in the streets, and the smoke of fried turkeys wafting down the streets, we make sure our guests enjoy the most splendid Thanksgiving ever — and maybe a reminder of how loved they really are. And when that happens, some will take the courageous step to leave the streets behind and transform their lives. Celebrating Thanksgiving at Union Rescue Mission gives us the chance to show our gratitude for all God has given to us by giving ourselves to those who have nothing at all. How well you and I pull this off is a true reflection of how grateful we really are. So I invite you to join with us again this year, offering your time and your financial support to display to the world our thankfulness and our love for others.

Blessings,

Andy

September 21, 2015

The Mission – September 2015

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August 12, 2015

The Mission – August 2015

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“For most of my life, the world viewed me as trash,” says Gary, 57. “But God used Union Rescue Mission to make me a treasure, and to show the world what He can do with someone like me.”

Gary grew up in poverty, the son of a struggling mother who had difficulty providing for her family. “We never had what the other kids had,” he recalls. “They dressed nicer than we did. I guess that affected my self-esteem.”

By high school, Gary was snatching purses, burglarizing homes, stealing cars, and gambling on the streets. Then his brother introduced him to crack cocaine. He was immediately hooked, and his life spiraled even more out of control. Between 1998 and 2012, he was constantly in and out of prison. And when he wasn’t in prison, he wasted his life away on Skid Row.

“I wanted to change,” he says. “I would see other people get clean, but I didn’t t

August2015NL_inside2 hink it would ever happen for me. Then one day around 1999, the Lord spoke to my spirit: ‘Satan’s trying to destroy you. But I got you.’”

It took 10 more years to see the fruit of God’s promise. In 2009, Gary surrendered his life to Jesus Christ in prison. Before long, he was leading Bible studies and preaching in chapel services, and he even felt God’s call to one day go into ministry.

When Gary was released from prison in 2012, God led him straight to Union Rescue

Mission. “I needed a place to stay and I wanted to be in a stable Christian community,” he says. “The Mission fed me, gave me clothes, all of that. But the most important thing is,

they raised me up in the Word of God, and they gave me purpose and direction. The chaplains here modeled for me what ministry is all about.”

Soon Gary joined Central City Community Church, where he now serves as an assistant to

the pastor. He even got married for the first time in February 2013, and in July 2014, Union Rescue Mission hired Gary full-time to drive a truck for their new thrift store in Covina.

“I’m a truck driver,” he says. “I pick up used items that we sell at the thrift store. But it’s more than that. I know what I’m doing is going to benefit others and to God’s glory. So I drive my truck with joy, because I know I’m a part of this incredible ministry. I’m a part of something glorious and honoring to God.”

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Real Jobs for Real People — Thanks to You!

by Glynn Coleman, Employment Skills Specialist

Many of the men and women who come to Union Rescue Mission have a spotty employment history, a lack of marketable job skills, and a history of felonies that can hurt their chances at gaining full-time employment and becoming self- sufficient. These precious people need more than meals and shelter, they need jobs. Real jobs.

And that’s where you come in. Your financial gifts and support to URM do far more than provide meals and shelter. Your gifts help transform lives and help prepare men and women experiencing homelessness with job-preparedness training, work skills, and even job opportunities with employers all over Los Angeles.

Thanks to you, our Employment Program has already helped more than 100 men and women find sustainable employment that has not only helped them support themselves, but often their families, as well.

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Summer heat on Skid Row is dangerous for the men and women who call these streets home. They desperately need your help. Yet every summer, donations to Union Rescue Mission drop way off, threatening our ability to meet their needs. Your gift today will provide cold water, cool shelter, nutritious meals, and another day of hope to precious people who need your help the most this summer. So please send the most generous gift you can today. Thank you!

— Anytime it’s 85 degrees or hotter, we pass out cold bottled water on Skid Row. Water Walks take place Monday through Friday at 2:00 p.m. Text the word WATERWALK to 51555 to receive notifications for our next Water Walk.

Because of You!

Annette’s Story

In 2013, I ended up homeless with my two small children. It got so bad, we had to live in a tent for awhile. Then we came to Union Rescue Mission and Hope Gardens. Hope Gardens helped me give up alcohol and drugs, helped me get closer to God, and they helped me in so many other positive ways. Today, I’m still living at Hope Gardens, but I have a job now and soon I will move into my own place with my children. All I want is to be able to support my children, and thanks to Hope Gardens and generous friends like you, I’m able to do that now.

andy

Notes From Andy

More than Meals

Struggling men and women who come to Union Rescue Mission seeking help need more than meals and shelter. They need more than sobriety. They need jobs. Real jobs.

I know one guy here at the Mission who came to us after a 20-year addiction. He’s clean, sober, and ready to go home. But he’s scared. What will happen to him when he leaves? He worries that if he can’t find work, if he can’t support himself with dignity and self-respect, he may end up right back where he started.

Thankfully, he’s now participating in our Employment Program and going to school. He knows we will provide him with the skills, the support, and the connections he needs. And we will walk with him every step of they way until he finds a much-needed job. But really it’s you. Your financial gifts to URM help provide men and women experiencing homelessness with training, work skills, and even job opportunities with employers all over Los Angeles.

A life transformed, followed by a job, followed by a home. That’s our strategy. But you’re the one who makes it happen.

July 6, 2015

The Mission – July 2015

To anyone else, it was just a silly child’s necklace, a worthless souvenir from Disneyland.

But for William, it was the last remaining memento of his 12-year-old son, whom he hadn’t seen in eight years. After a lifetime of broken relationships and abandonment, William felt alone and hopeless. First it was his mother, a troubled alcoholic who preferred the streets over her children. His grandmother was in and out of his life. He never knew his father, and after he married the woman of his dreams, she tragically died less than a year later.

“I was so depressed, I went into a tailspin and started drinking more and more. I really struggled,” William recalls. “Then I got married again, way too soon. I never dealt with my grief. And because of my drinking, I burned that relationship out in five years. But a wonderful thing came out of that marriage. My son, Judah.”

But two years after the marriage ended, William’s ex-wife disappeared with his son. “I lost all hope,” William says. “I started drinking all day, every day, and I ended up homeless. Over the next four years, I lost everything, all the reminders of my son.”

Everything but a necklace. William knew he needed help.

So in January 2013, he came to Union Rescue Mission. Over the next year, he poured himself into weekly counseling sessions with Chaplain Mike McIntire, 12-step classes, Bible studies, and prayer. As he got closer to God and his burdens slowly lifted, William began to see the same hurt he had felt in the eyes of the other men at the Mission. So he began loving and ministering to them. Before long, he no longer felt alone.

Yet he never stopped praying to see his son again. “Then one day, out of the blue, my son found me on Facebook,” William says. “I finally got my son back.”

In fact, on Easter Sunday 2015, Judah, now 12, visited William at Union Rescue Mission. At the sunrise service, as they celebrated Christ’s resurrection and new life in Him, William turned to Judah and gave him the necklace he’d carried for eight years.

“This necklace means the world to me, son,” he said. “This is what kept me going, even in the midst of my addiction and all my running away from God, from all my relationships, and even from myself. It’s all I had left of you. Take care of this for the rest of your life.”

It was just a child’s necklace. But it saved a father’s life.

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I love William’s story. As a chaplain at Union Rescue Mission, I see men like him everyday — men wounded from broken relationships with friends, family, and with God. Sometimes those wounds are consequences of bad choices they’ve made. Other times, the broken relationships are suffered from no fault of their own.

But one thing is clear: People don’t end up on Skid Row because of drugs and alcohol. They end up here because of some kind of relationship trauma they’ve never recovered from. In fact, the single biggest common denominator I see among addicted and homeless men and women is the overwhelming grief they feel at being completely alone.

But you and I know they’re NOT alone. They’re not alone because there’s a God who loves them. They’re not alone because we surround them with unconditional love and friendship. They’re not alone because compassionate people like YOU care.

If men and women come here wounded by broken relationships, they heal through loving ones. And thanks to your giving hearts, hurting and broken people who come to Union Rescue Mission have the time and space they need to build new relationships and reconcile old ones — especially in families.

Everyone who comes here is someone’s father, mother, brother, sister, son, or daughter. So every time you invest in someone here, you do far more than help to restore a life. You help heal and restore entire families — healing that will offer hope for generations to come.

andy

Notes From Andy

Loved and Accepted

I bet if you were to survey 100 people here on the streets of Skid Row about what led them here, 93% would say a broken relationship. Whether that relational trauma led to some kind of mental health issues or led to their addiction issues, they’ve never healed from the grief and pain. So by the time they come to Union Rescue Mission, they have nowhere left to go and no one else to turn to.

But that’s where you come in. With your support, we encourage them to trust again and risk building new relationships. We teach them how to overcome grief and loss, how to overcome anger, how to overcome addiction, and how to turn to the Lord for help. And that’s most important, because when they have a relationship with their Lord, they are embraced by the only perfect Father.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen people go through our program and return home to start over as healthy parents, sons or daughters, brothers or sisters. We all need to be loved and accepted. There is no greater joy than seeing that happen. But it happens here, because caring people like you make it happen.

June 5, 2015

The Mission – June 2015

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For me, family is everything. It’s how I grew up. My parents, my brothers and sisters, we were close. It’s the kind of family I wanted when I could one day have a family of my own.

I was a teenager when I fell in love with the mother of my kids. We had two children together and everything seemed on track — until we got addicted to crystal meth.

After our relationship ended a few years later, I was devastated. I not only lost my relationship with her, I lost my kids. I lost my lifelong dream of a loving family. I’d failed — and it hurt. It hurt so bad I had to numb myself with more meth and alcohol. It’s the only way I could forget. For the next 15 years, I worked and partied. I never got close to a woman again. It was just too painful.

That all changed in March 2013.

I met a woman, a meth addict like me, but we fell in love almost overnight. And like me, she wanted to get off the merry-go- round of meth. Unfortunately, neither of us knew how.

Worse, I was unemployed. And by summer, we were homeless on the streets of San Bernardino, living in a tent by a riverbed. Everything we owned was stuffed in shopping carts.

It was crazy out there, and dangerous. But at least we had each other, 24/7. And we did whatever we had to do to survive. We both knew it had to end, though. One day I did the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I left her to find a recovery program to get off drugs. When I couldn’t find one in San Bernardino, I almost gave up. But that’s when a friend told me about Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles.

I came the next day. Within two days, I felt connected to God in a way I never had before. That completely changed my life. Then I found out my girlfriend also got into a drug program in Long Beach! Since then, everything’s coming together. I’m not only sober, I’ve reconnected with my kids again and I’m determined to be a good father to them. All the anger and guilt I felt just washed away. I also entered school to become a chef. And now my girlfriend and I are talking about getting married and starting a family. Thanks to caring people like you who support Union Rescue Mission, maybe I’ll get to experience the family I always wanted after all.

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andy

Notes From Andy

It’s Not Ok.

SKID ROW’S filthy, dangerous sidewalks and back-alleys are home to as many as 3,400 men, women, and children, struggling to survive in a world of predators and prostitutes, murderers and molesters, victims and victimizers.

They arrive here from every city and region in Los Angeles County and beyond. Some come seeking services and much-needed help. Others are sent here from communities that don’t want them anymore — but they’re not sending them here to get help. They’re sending them here to live and die.

There are so many hurting people on these streets we can no longer meet the demand. Every shelter is filled to capacity. Yet more keep coming every day.

I’m embarrassed and ashamed — and as a supporter of Union Rescue Mission, I know you are, too. As Steve Lopez recently wrote in the L.A. Times, “You keep waiting for someone to show up and say wait a minute, this is not OK.”

Well, I’m saying it now. It’s not OK. And it has to stop.

May 8, 2015

The Mission – May 2015

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All my life, I was looking for a sense of family that I didn’t get growing up. My parents were real strict and never showed us any love.

So at the age of 14, I rebelled against all of that and found a different “family” — in a gang. And I totally embraced that culture. But while it gave me something I needed, it also meant I got involved in a lot of crime and hurt a lot of people. I did some things that were really hard to live with.

Then I found heroin. Heroin helped numb me out so I could live with myself. But it wasn’t long before it was out of control. I needed heroin just to feel normal. It controlled every aspect of my life and slowly destroyed me. And by the summer of 2013, I was living on the streets.

I needed help.

Then I remembered a radio program that talked about Union Rescue Mission. When I came here in October 2013, I not only had to get off heroin, I was still looking for that sense of “family” — for someone who cared about me, someone who could look me in the eye and say they loved me.

From day one, a lot of people here showed me they cared. But then in March 2014, I got hooked up with a mentor named Clint from Pacific Coast Church. We went to ball games together, went out to dinner, talked over the phone, chatted over email. We talked about stuff we’re wrestling with. He even invited me over to spend the night with his family. That was huge. This guy let me into his most personal space.

In a lot of ways, Clint’s life has been completely different from mine. But learning from him, watching him, I see now that we have even more in common in Christ. Clint has shown me what it means to be a man of God. He loves me, and I know it. And when he looks me in the eye, I see Jesus.

Thanks to Clint — and people like you — I found what I was always looking for.

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For almost three years, Pastor Dan Anderson and nearly 60 men from Pacific Coast Church (PCC) in San Clemente have built relationships, mentored, and along with your generous support have helped transform the lives of more than 100 guests at Union Rescue Mission. It’s a ministry URM hopes more people — especially people like you — will consider.

It all started in 2011, when Pastor Dan led a group of men from his church to tour Skid Row and URM. “We were blown away. You don’t see that kind of brokenness in San Clemente,” Dan recalls. They were also struck by how many men had lost connections to family, friends, and resources that could change their lives.

Soon Dan proposed starting a mentoring program that would involve building relationships — and friendships — between the men of his church and the men overcoming addictions and homelessness at URM.

They launched the new program with a weekend-long “Iron Man” conference, named after Proverbs 27:17 . . . “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” The conference brought together 40 men from PCC and 40 men from URM who worshipped, studied, ate, played, and shared their personal stories with one another. “That weekend not only transformed their guys, it transformed our guys,” Dan says.

After the conference, the mentors continued to meet face-to-face with their mentees at least once a month, and contact one another once a week via phone or email to talk about life, offer advice, hold one another accountable, to cry or laugh together, to encourage one another, and to point one another to God.

“Our guys would say that this is one of the best things they’ve ever done,” Dan says. “It’s not hard. God didn’t ask us to be anyone’s savior. He just asked us to show up. The rest is up to Him.”

Please consider whether God is asking you to “just show up” today!

Notes from Andy

The Power of Relationships

One of the biggest problems facing people experiencing homelessness is isolation
— from family, friends, and their community. Too often they’re treated like some kind of contagious disease that must be avoided at all costs.

But they’re not a disease. They’re fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. And if we could just learn to treat them that way, maybe we could make a real difference. But to do that takes getting personally involved. It takes building relationships with them — relationships that offer hope, affirm dignity, and restore hope.

I truly believe if we could get every man, woman, and child experiencing homelessness hooked up with someone who really loved and cared for them, one on one — like the men from Pacific Coast Church are doing — we could begin to turn our homelessness problem around.

I like what Pastor Dan said in the article on the previous page. When you meet folks experiencing homelessness here at Union Rescue Mission, you fall in love with them. You begin to see them just as Jesus does. And when you begin to see them that way, you also get a glimpse of how Jesus sees you.

Blessings,

April 10, 2015

The Mission – April 2015

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Holly’s father was an alcoholic. Her mother didn’t want to raise children and spent increasing amounts of time away from the family. So from the age of 8, Holly was left in charge of her five other siblings.

“I remember telling Mom I just wanted to be a kid,” says Holly, a 39-year-old single mother at Hope Gardens. Holly says she never remembers being kissed or hugged by her mother — and she never heard the words “I love you.”

“I was so hungry for affection,” Holly recalls, “I started looking for a boyfriend when I was 11. I wanted a boyfriend who would love me.”

By the age of 13, Holly started running away from home, staying with friends’ families or living in vacant buildings. Then she discovered alcohol. “Drinking made me feel invincible and like I had it together. Like I could conquer the world. That I was attractive to men,” she says. Unfortunately, the men she attracted were mostly abusive. And alcoholics like herself. “You accept the love you think you deserve,” she says. “And I didn’t feel like I deserved more.”

By the time she was 36, Holly had six kids — all taken away from her and placed in foster care. In 2010, however, she tired of the abuse and alcohol. And she turned to God.

She got sober, got her kids back, and tried to rebuild her life. But in 2012, she and her kids were homeless.

A case worker persuaded her to go to Hope Gardens.

“Hope Gardens was this beautiful, green, healing oasis that sheltered me and my family after this horrible storm of my life,” she says. “For the first time, I felt like me and my family were safe. The staff here were so loving. It felt like family. What family is supposed to feel like.”

Through counseling and various classes that provided her with parenting and financial- management skills; through mentors and caseworkers that kept her on track; through chaplains and Bible studies that kept her focused on God — Holly says she got the parenting and nurturing she never got as a child.

Today, Holly says she’s becoming the “godly woman” she’s meant to be. She’s been sober for three years, she’s working, and her family is now preparing to move into their own apartment again.

“I’m so grateful God brought me to Hope Gardens,” she says. “I have a new apartment, but Hope Gardens will always be home.”

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You Give Families Hope Today

by Zach Stratton

The transformation of Holly and her family is truly inspiring. But as a donor to Hope Gardens and Union Rescue Mission, you should know that your support transforms hundreds of families just like Holly’s every year. And that’s a powerful thing.

It’s also vitally important. The growth of family homelessness in Los Angeles is tragic. Thousands of young mothers and children face overwhelming barriers that prevent them from a better life — domestic violence, mental-health issues, addictions, emotional and sexual abuse, lack of education, joblessness, and many more.

Many times they’ve spent months or years moving from couch to couch, shelter to shelter, even living out of cars. These young mothers are so stressed keeping their families going day to day, they have no energy to think about tomorrow.

By the time these families come to Hope Gardens, they’re exhausted physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Many times they arrive without hope. They need more than shelter and three meals a day. They need a chance to rest, so they can begin to heal and rebuild their families.

And that’s what you give them. You also provide them with classes in financial management, healthy relationships, and parenting. Counseling and therapy to heal past traumas. Education and job training. Case workers like me, who help them find jobs, and housing, and create a long-term plan for their lives. Finally, you give them the chance to reconnect with God and grow spiritually through chapel, Christian discipleship classes, and prayer.

Right now, your gifts are helping to support approximately 60 mothers and more than 100 children. And over the past year, you’ve helped transform the lives of as many as 200 mothers and over 400 children.

They say it takes a village to raise a child — or a family. And Hope Gardens is a kind of village — a village of precious families, a village of caring caseworkers, chaplains and staff, and a village of compassionate people like you. There is no “us and them” in this village. There is only us. Mothers, children, me, and you. And it’s a village that doesn’t exist apart from your support.

Zach Stratton is a case manager at Hope Gardens Family Center. For more information about Hope Gardens, please call 213.347. 6300 ext. 7101 or visit our website at urm.org/services/hope-gardens.

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Because of You

by Enrique

I struggled with a drug addiction for most of my life. By 2011, it got so bad I was on the streets. When I came to Union Rescue Mission, they helped me get closer to God and taught me how to follow His instructions in the Bible to live a better life.

I’ve learned that I need to stay disciplined in all areas of my life. One discipline that helped me is running. I ran my first L.A. Marathon in 2012 and I’ve run in every one since. Today, everything is going better for me and my family. I am grateful to God there is a place like Union Rescue Mission.

andy

Notes From Andy

Transforming Families Today — and Tomorrow

My heart just breaks. The number of children experiencing homelessness in the United States is at an all-time high. In fact, at least 10,000 families are struggling here in Los Angeles alone.

Probably 70% of these precious moms, like Holly, are victims of divorce and domestic abuse. Others struggle with inadequate educational or work skills, and long-term unemployment. Regardless

of the reasons, however, many of these beautiful young mothers are now tragically living with their children in cars, garages, sheds — or worse.

But everything changes when they come to Hope Gardens. Hope Gardens not only provides them with safety, food, and shelter, it gives them the necessary skills they need to thrive. It helps them with relationship issues, provides educational opportunities, offers mental-health care, and trains them to become better mothers to their children.

As a donor, your gifts provide resources for completely transforming mothers and children so they will never again experience homelessness in their lifetime. You give them everything they need to take care of their families today, so for the first time they can begin to dream about tomorrow. I pray God will bless you for it!

Blessings,

March 11, 2015

The Mission – March 2015

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Jordan’s childhood was so traumatic, he remembers the high school counselor who expressed shock that he hadn’t tried to kill himself yet.

Drugs and abuse followed Jordan his entire life — his parents were drug addicts and Jordan himself was born addicted to meth. Then, throughout his childhood, an abusive boyfriend of his mother beat him severely for such crimes as failing to make his bed perfectly, getting up at night to go to the bathroom, or waking up before 10:00 a.m. on weekends.

They also completely isolated him in his room. “I was kept entirely alone,” the 24-year-old recalls. “I wasn’t allowed to have friends or watch TV or play video games.”

The isolation and abuse were so crushing, Jordan developed a dissociative identity disorder — multiple personality disorder. By the time he graduated from high school, Jordan was ready to explore a world of unrestrained desires, unlimited sex, and crystal meth. “I let myself go crazy. I became selfish and cruel,” he says. “All I cared about was getting high and having sex.”

His life quickly unraveled. Within two years, Jordan found himself homeless in Long Beach’s Bixby Park. “I had no family. No real friends. And I worried constantly that someone was going to kill me,” he recalls.

In July 2013, a chaplain invited Jordan to come and get help at Union Rescue Mission.

“I decided I wanted to live, so I accepted,” he says. “When I first came here, I was a piece of work,” Jordan recalls. “I’d been on the streets for three years, with no structure. I had real trouble with authority. I didn’t want to listen to anyone.”

But slowly, as his trust grew, so did progress in other areas — including therapy. Working with a counselor, Jordan began to heal past wounds and reintegrate his diverse, multiple personalities. But spiritually is where he really changed. In fact, his spiritual growth and maturity were so profound, he was asked to sing on two of URM’s praise teams, and he’s serving on a servant leadership team, helping to run church services, devotions, and Bible studies.

“With all the destructive things I was doing before, death hung all over me all the time,” he explains. “But I learned that Jesus died for me, and I began to realize that if I was going to change, I’d have to die, too, in a way. So thanks to Union Rescue Mission and everyone who supports this place, it’s like I’m being reborn.

“When I leave this place someday, it’ll be just like Jesus when He walked out of the tomb on Easter. I’ll have a brand-new life with a whole new future. I’ll be the man God created me to be.”

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Because of You

Ben’s Story

For 15 years, I struggled with a meth addiction that cost me everything, including my family. Even my kids wanted nothing to do with me.

Then I went to Union Rescue Mission in 2011. They helped me get closer to God and taught me how to live my life in a totally different way. It took time, but my family started to trust me again. And today, my kids and I are closer than ever. I’ve even started a silkscreen business with one my sons.

I want to thank all the donors of Union Rescue Mission. They not only changed my life, they’ve transformed my entire family.

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People on Skid Row who are struggling with addictions and homelessness need hope that new life is possible for them. Because Jesus walked out of His tomb, you and I know that new life is more than just a hope. When men, women, and children experiencing homelessness come to Union Rescue Mission, they receive the real, tangible help they need to rebuild their lives. That’s what your gifts really mean to hurting people at Union Rescue Mission — thank you!

Your gift will provide hot meals — and new life — this Easter! It doesn’t cost much to help transform a life. And that’s what our “Give a Little, Help a Lot” campaign is all about. Your generous gift of $25, $35, or more today will help provide hurting men, women, and children with hot meals, safe shelter, long-term help — and hope for new life this Easter season. So, please send the most generous gift you can today. Thank you!

andy

Notes From Andy

You’re the Co-Star in This Skid Row Drama

Right now, there’s a drama unfolding on Skid Row, right outside the doors of Union Rescue Mission — a drama in which you’re one of the co-stars.

Let me explain.

Every day, thousands of desperate men, women, and children are struggling to survive on streets piled with trash and sidewalks that reek of human waste — a dark wasteland infested with predators who feed on vulnerable people trapped in addiction, trapped in poverty, trapped in hunger, and trapped in sexual abuse. An aura of emotional, spiritual, and even physical death hangs over these streets. And the tragedy is, this drama is real.

Unscripted. And real lives are at stake. But you and I know this dramatic story doesn’t end there.

There’s hope. Easter hope.

When Jesus walked out of His tomb, He emerged with the power to defeat death, sin, darkness, and even Skid Row. And today He offers that same power to everyone who believes — including every man, woman, and child who comes to Union Rescue Mission seeking help.

That’s the miracle — the miracle of new life — we see in the lives of precious folks every day. That’s what Easter is all about. And it’s why we do what we do on behalf of all the hurting people on Skid Row. But if Jesus is the star of this drama, compassionate, caring people like you are His co-stars. There is no Union Rescue Mission and there is no lifesaving work here apart from you. Every meal served, every bed provided, every Bible study, every counseling session, every hour of training, and every encounter with Jesus — none of it is possible apart from you.

This Easter, together we will all celebrate the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection and the new life He promises. But every day, I will also celebrate you and your partnership with Union Rescue Mission, as together we work to transform lives on Skid Row by the power of Jesus Christ.

February 4, 2015

The Mission – February 2015

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Some traumas can hurt a life for a season — others take a lifetime to heal. When Michael was 5, he fell into a river and almost drowned. He recovered physically, but from that day forward, he could no longer speak without stuttering.

“That made my school years very difficult,” says Michael, now 68. “I was terrified of being asked a question in class or to read something out loud.” And the older he got, the more he isolated himself. “I always made sure I worked in jobs where I didn’t have to directly deal with anyone. I never personally answered phone calls or made small talk, other than to say, ‘Good morning.’” The only remedy he found to ease his discomfort was alcohol. “I started drinking when I was 21,” he recalls. “Alcohol made me open up a bit more. And it was fun for a while. But alcohol affected everything that’s happened in my life since.” Like his relationships.

He married at the age of 23 and was divorced five years later because of his drinking — and didn’t see his daughter again for almost 40 years. Other friends avoided him for the same reason. So he isolated himself more and more. “I knew I had a problem. It was just easier to sit at home, crank my music up, and drink,” he says.

Over his lifetime, Michael went through various treatment programs to overcome his drinking. Nothing worked. Not even when, he says, God miraculously cured his stuttering in 2011. But finally, in July 2012, he was out of money, out of work, and out of his apartment. He came to Union Rescue Mission to try to get sober one more time.

“The Mission has given me the structure I need to stay sober,” he says. “I’m also finding that their 12-step principles, based on Alcoholics Anonymous, combined with Christian principles and the Lord Jesus Christ, have made a real difference. I pray every day and my faith is getting stronger. I even bought my first cell phone,” he says with a smile.

But perhaps most rewarding, Union Rescue Mission has helped him reconnect with his daughter after almost 40 years. “Now we connect at least once or twice a week,” he says. “That’s made a big difference for me and her.

“I have so much to be grateful for,” he says. “I was a little slow on the uptake, but I have a higher power to draw on now.

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Union Rescue Mission serves over 2,000 meals per day and shelters 800 men, women, and children every night. But most need more than food and shelter. They need new life — and you can give it to them.

Your gift today of $15, $25, or more will not only provide meals and shelter, it will give hurting people access to counseling, mentoring, classes, medical care, and spiritual nurture — all of which can transform someone’s life. Not only for today, but for eternity.

So please do more than save a life today. Help change someone’s life. Don’t wait. Please send the most generous gift you can. Thank you! To put your gift to work even faster,
go to urm.org/NewLife.

Because of You

Norris’ Story

Before coming to URM, I was on drugs and alcohol and I was homeless. I was full of fear. I did not know what to do. I was headed to prison or someone was going to hurt me or I was going to hurt someone else. So I came here because I’d heard they could help me have a better life. And they did. They changed me mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Today, I’m working, I have my own place, I’ve restored my relationships with family, and I have a woman I love. I’m grateful for everything God and Union Rescue Mission has done for me.

Notes From Andy

Your Life-Changing Work

Homelessness devastates people, and so do the wounds that lead them into homelessness. By the time most men and women come to Union Rescue Mission, their bodies, hearts, and souls are crippled with guilt and shame. They need more than food and shelter.

They need new life.

That’s why everything we do here — from our overnight guests, to our men’s program, to the young moms at Hope Gardens — is designed to transform lives. Because if we don’t address the issues that led to their homelessness, they will just end up homeless again.

Yes, we serve over 2,000 meals a day to hungry people and shelter 800 people every night, and that’s critical. In the end, however, Union Rescue Mission is here to transform lives — not just physically and emotionally, but spiritually, as well, through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

But it’s your gifts that make it all possible. Your generosity is not only saving lives, you’re changing lives — today for eternity. Thanks to you, lives are saved and rebuilt, families are restored, and God is glorified. Thank you for giving to this life-changing work.

Blessings,