As we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, we enter the year 2020 with intention to do all we can to reduce the misery of homelessness and poverty and help move as many people as we can into permanent supportive housing.
We hosted over 180 people on each of the last two Sundays. Our staff are thankful for our dedicated volunteers who help us throughout the day to help cook, serve and clean. Thank you to Pam at Emmanuel Presbyterian Church for donating some of their food from LA Food Bank.
Yesterday, we had a surprise visit from Chris from Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church who brought over 20 purses she had gotten donated from friends and filled them with beauty and self-care products. Our guests were touched and grateful for her act of kindness.
We sent (via Greyhound) a young family with children ages two and four to unite with an aunt who would provide them a place to live in West Virginia. Although the young mother grew up in Long Beach, the couple struggled as they juggled irregular jobs, experienced homelessness, and decided to call on family for help.
We helped a housed mother and her children with groceries (from our Food Finders delivery) and gave them cupcakes to help celebrate their brother’s one-year birthday.
We continue to help two senior clients settle into their apartments, to help with official ID requests, utility payments, bus passes and other requests.
Thank you to Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office for donating filled Tap Cards that we passed on to our clients who are working and/or have other employment-related activities. We also helped a senior gentleman who has been living in his car for years with a small check made out to the dental center at USC (where he has been having serious dental work done).
We thank you for your support and encourage you to visit us at our drop-in center on Sunday afternoons. Please help us move people out of homelessness and consider donating your time or other resources – visit us at our website at www.ucodic.org.