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Los Angeles
This month we're heading on over to Los Angeles!
Be sure to visit our opportunities page for
more information about serving with us in "El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de
los Ángeles del Río de Porciúncula," ("The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels
on the River Porciúncula" - aka LA!).
News from the Los Angeles City Director
Los Angeles, like many big cities is a city in constant change.
Week-to-week and month-to-month neighborhoods throughout the city are changing.
As we speak, Downtown LA is going through a major change. Many of the urban poor are
being pushed out of areas like Skid Row and being displaced elsewhere. Many times this
change results in less services and less hope for the homeless and poor in that
community because of the continued gentrification or uprising of a neighborhood.
Even though change many times is bad for the poor, I want to talk about
a change that is happening that is good for the poor. This change is happening right in
the heart of downtown at LA’s largest mission, The Union Rescue Mission. For many years
the Union Rescue Mission has provided hope and services for those living in Skid Row.
Not only have they provided meals, housing, and rehab programs they also provided many of
those important services for women and children. In LA, there are 90,000 homeless on any
given night and 40% of those are women and children. URM is the only mission that has
offered unrestricted emergency services to those families. Also, CSM groups that have come
to serve in LA have served in the dayroom and have played with the children in the dayroom
helping to provide activities, encouragement and hope for them, but many times hope was the
last thing that those women and children had.
I say they didn’t have hope because they were stuck in a Skid Row and a
neighborhood that is filled with drugs and crime. But now there is change and it’s a change
for the better. Many of these families are being moved to a long-term shelter in Lake View
Terrace, which is a neighborhood that is safe and away from the crime and drugs of Skid Row.
They also have better facilities so the families can have their own apartments along with play areas for many of the children. This is a place where families can actually live together and grow together as families instead of living with multiple families in a small place close to the dangers of drugs and crime.
So, there is change, and along with that change a new hope for many families on Skid Row. Unfortunately, CSM groups aren’t able to volunteer with the women and children on a regular basis anymore because of the long distance of Hope Gardens away from the city, but ultimately their long term solutions services are better than what short-term care our groups could have done for them. So, for the families there is change, but instead of the change being a bad thing, it’s an excellent thing!! Please join CSM in prayer for these families - that their lives would continue to be full of hope and joy!
Read more about new hope for families in this
LA Times article or by visiting the
Union Rescue Mission website (they've posted a great CNN article as well)!
- Jon Vales, CSM Los Angeles Associate City Director
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