Los Angeles Mission

Attending the orientation for volunteering their street event.
They offer orientation monthly. It is mandatory to attend the orientation before volunteer for them. The orientation is about 2 – 2.5 hours. Meet up at the auditorium, going over the history of the LA Mission and rules for the volunteer. Afterwards, we are giving tour of the facility.
Los Angeles Mission offers shelter, food, education, addiction treatment, etc. It has been helping the community for over 77 years!!! What a great cause!
I am so happy that I am able to participate on their future street event. Feeling great that I can contribute my time to help out the community.
Parking: They have underground parking and ground floor parking lot. Check in with the security at the gate first.

This review is from the perspective of having spent ten nights at the mission, as a guest, and what to expect when your options are down to nill as to where to go for the night.
Now first off, this is Skid Row. If you’ve never been to skid row you are in for a MAJOR SHOCK. If you’re not used to someone who is, for example, an amputee, in a wheelchair, lighting up a crack pipe while you wait in line for dinner at the Midnight Mission while they’re drinking a beer and getting their racism on with you as their target then stay far far away from Skid Row cause you need to be able to process something like that without it effecting you mentally.
As for as the L.A. Mission goes here is the daily routine.
In order to get in you will need to be at the less than pearly green gates by 5:30 p.m. with some form of I.D. Sit in the line by the gates on the left hand side (not the line on the right, this is the line you will get in after your first night).The guy will take your name and eventually issue you a bed ticket. This ticket will be good for five nights. You can re-​new this bed ticket two times for up to 15 days.
Next you will have to check your bag at baggage. DO NOT DO what I did and let your ticket expire after the fifth day and not renew your baggage because when I went to get my bag on the 10^th day I was there cause I was moving on it was no longer there cause I made the mistake of assuming it would automatically renew. But I’m an idiot like that and the loss was very costly. Also, those baggage people, for the most part, are incredibly rude and the process of checking in and checking out can be difficult to figure out since there’s no signs that say what window does what?
Once your bag is checked, you are allowed one small hygiene bag (they supply the very easily tearable (terrible) plastic bags which you will find yourself double bagging and triple bagging) to bring inside, also a book.
After you enter the building you will have to do a bug check. Go to the bug check man and he will check your scalp and sign off on the bed ticket.
Next up is chapel service. DO NOT sit in the last two rows or the section to the immediate right. Remove your hat. Don’t wear headphones. But as far as the evening version of the chapel version it is some major torture Jim Jones type of B.S. First thing is a run down of the rules of being a guest spoken by a middle age gentleman whom you will barely be able to understand but by the 5^th night you will know the schtick.
Around 7 p.m. the sermon will start and this varies from night to night but it consists of the usual fire and brimstone sermon that caters to the addict, you need Christ in your life crowd because only then will you be complete. You will feel like the biggest failure on planet earth and those that drink the kool aid will give their life to Jesus at the end. This happens every night except for (ironically) Sunday?
Next up at 7:45 is dinner. If you want to be one of the first to eat bring a cane and go eat with the disable people. Or sit in the front row as rows are called from front to back. Sitting in the back will give you less time for the shower afterwards and they are major sticklers for being done at specific times.
As for dinner, this is a hit or miss affair. You will eat A LOT of sticky rice, but they’re chicken and fish are actually fairly exemplary, I also enjoyed the juice bottle pomegranate blueberry whatever it was stuff, but the portions are usually fairly small and I found myself eating dinner and breakfast at the Midnight Mission to make up for it.
After dinner is the mandatory shower. The one time in my life that I was grateful that I’m incredibly near sighted without glasses. But if you haven’t had a shower in awhile this is most welcomed. You’re issued pajamas and afterwards I’ve never felt fresher.
By the time you get to your bunk it will be almost 9 p.m. I also did the 4:45 Midnight Mission dinner so the whole process of getting to your bunk is about a four hour affair.
At 10 p.m. they cut most but not all of the lights and of course I got top bunk right night to freight train of a snorer and a main light. And yet I slept like a rock cause…
WAKE UP IS AT 4 A.M. !!!
Yes, EVERYDAY, no exceptions. After a week, you are freakin’ exhausted.
You will then have 30 minutes to change back into your clothes and be down to the chapel. I suggest shaving and do basic hygiene downstairs as to avoid the however many minutes countdown from the staff to 4:30, as much as possible.
At 5 a.m. it is the morning Sermon and this one done by John Kelly I actually really liked and John has quite the story and even though I never talked to the man I he’s one of the few staff that I really liked. But the overall sense from the staff that I got was that it was very rare when they were actually nice as you would expect a fellow person of the human race to act when dealing with another human being.
I’m out of room but thats the gist of it.

It was a great volunteering experience and I would do again in a heartbeat. The entire kitchen staff are some of the hardest working and most dedicated people you will ever meet. They are all doing God’s work, one meal at time.

This is a very special place in the middle of poverty, chaos & confusion in the Skidrow area of downtown Los Angeles. The volunteers that actually come here are a rather hearty, robust bunch that seems able to take reality as it is… with all the heartache, dysfunction and dystopia of an urban core. I love (and I don’t use that term casually…) the Los Angeles Mission. I’m one of those people that wanna donate to everything, but can only afford to donate to a few. The L.A. Mission has been one of my priorities for years. They do so much good work that it is incalculable. Bottom line— if you have a few dollars to donate to a place that really «puts your dollars to work», then please consider the L.A. Mission

Went here the other day to do some work.
Boy was it a humbling experience.
I tried the bathroom and was very scared to go at first but I really needed to. I used it and saw it lacked privacy but it did it’s job!
Then I also was fortunate to shower here. It was very fun actually. I will never forget how humbling it feels.
The best part? Reading the quotes from the Bible on the walls. It inspires you to believe that with hope and love, you really have all you need in life.

The older I get, the more cynical I become. Sometimes I feel like I’m turning into Daniel Plainview from There Will Be Blood. «I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.» But every so often I get a moment of light shone into my soul and I remember to be grateful for the incredible life I’ve been blessed with thus far. Also, I realize that it’s an extremely thin line between my blessings and the next’s guy or lady’s harder life. This only gets magnified the colder it gets out there.
So when I started to help out occasionally with this wonderful institution, I quickly felt better not only about humanity in general (turnouts are usually pretty big especially during the holidays), but I started to get more in touch with my own potential beyond the work-​life space I’d been submerged into all my adult life.
The workers, volunteers, «students», passersby, short term guests and beyond all do a lot to put faith back into our society. They feed, clean, clothe, warm, educate and beyond here for hundreds of the less fortunate each and every day. I’m just an occasional cog in that wheel.
Look, I’d like to say that I come here to help out those in need and less fortunate but the honest truth is that helping out here does me more good than the good folks who just need a little nudge in the right direction.

I give where Spirit guides me, and I am grateful for being able to give to the LOS ANGELES MISSION. The name speaks for itself, helping others… the mission is clear as the vision for the future is abundance for those in need. Ready with action for changes being made helping their community & able to do for others while others are learning to do for themselves as they are doing. With everything that is being created in the world today, there is HOPE for all those who are searching for opportunities to make a difference… some how some way creating! Ergo, I know they will! As the choice is BEING MADE, the L.A. MISSION sets the example. WITHOUT the FEAR of «what if»! Throughout Infinity things evolve, and God has people who are evolving at the L.A. Mission by showing the way to create positive empowerment, by doing. Leaders with unconditional love through blessings & fortunately creating changes with more than a place to be, the L.A. Mission… God bless you.

I took a tour here and spent the day at the Los Angeles Mission. I was amazed at how many people this place is really helping! What struck me the most is that it’s a place where people can get a «spiritual makeover» as well as job training to get back out to be a productive member of society.
I heard many stories from different workers how there lives were totally transformed by the power of God and now they of helping others do the same.
The women and children’s center is incredible! I was impressed with the love of the staff members.
Dr. Charles Morgan spent time with us and he is very gifted and has helped build this place to make it an amazing place to help the hurting and homeless.
These are not just drug addicts and street people here but you may find people that were on the top and now are homeless!
Go spend the day there-​you will be amazed–
If you are a person of means-​consider giving to this place. Your money will be well spent to help others!

Said it before, now again.
Your time, your dollars or both, help the Los Angeles Mission change lives for the better.
Just sent off my T-​Day donation because as the British scholar, Thomas Fuller wrote, «Charity begins at home but should not end there.»

THIS PLACE IS AWESOME!!!
I had a brief orientation but I think I might have to go to another orientation… even though you only need to go to one. They were tight on time when I went to orientation. I didn’t get to see the women’s Anne Douglas Center. The orientation itself is pretty bomb as well for being a nonprofit organization. like no other.
I wish I had volunteer experience in other areas besides the kitchen so that I can tell you all the full extent of this place… going to orientation does not mean you will have a date to volunteer before leaving. You submit paperwork at orientation, then you are allowed to contact the coordinator via phone/​email to arrange a date and activity. She runs the orientation, so i don’t see why we can’t sign up there. I’ve called before on several occasions as well and nobody answers. There is a volunteer dress code but you don’t have to dress accordingly on orientation day. You will learn about the dress restrictions in orientation, most of which are for females.
Let’s move away from that and let me tell you about what I do know. There’s between 100 – 200 beds if I recall (in)correctly, for homeless men to sleep every night. A requirement is that they must be sober. And I think you can stay there once and wait 15 days if you want to stay again… this is to prevent people from using this place as a hotel. «Students» of their rehabilitation program stay there for 2 years. A lot have of homeless deal with substance abuse problems and this place helps them with it. Substance abuse may have gotten some of them homeless. This place provides spiritual and personal counseling, meals, clothing, showers, education, vocational training, and there might be a medical clinic nearby that is affiliated with LA Mission. There is a gym in here too. SADLY, I didn’t get to see it – there wasn’t enough time. A GYM!!! They have a giant auditorium and chapel services are held in there. There is a Spanish service and and English service. I like it. I haven’t seen the service myself but I like the sound of it. Women Center in proximity but I do not know much of it but I assume it would be similar but on a smaller scale since there are more homeless men.
Parking is easy on weekdays, I don’t know about weekends. They have a parking lot on 316 Winston, this is a one-​way street. You will pass a lot of homeless peeps driving on Winston. You don’t have to pay for the parking but they tell you to leave your keys inside your car in case they have to move it? and if you don’t feel safe with that, then you can pay for parking elsewhere. That’s what they say but I haven’t had to leave my keys in. My car is manual transmission though so I wonder if they can handle.
The only thing is that I’d like to be able to interact more with the students there and hear them out. One time a staff or student in the kitchen responded to me that he already ate, but I could eat if I wanted to. I shook my head and said oh no no I ate already. He teased me by mocking me like I was disgusted by this food. I wasn’t disgusted… I did eat already but either way, there are people there that need the food more than I do. In fact, I don’t need more food. More like less food. I don’t know why the vending machines can only be used at meal times though. Hey I like to snack in between my meals.

This organization does GREAT things and they do it with love. The world needs more people like this. There is no reason anyone in this country should ever go hungry. If you’re looking for an honorable and amazing charity organization, this is definitely one to consider!
Thank you for what you do LA Mission!

Volunteered serving the homeless with the FAM definitely doing it again

Volunteered yesterday serving the homeless a wonderful Thanksgiving meal.
It was well planned and put together. A band was playing on the Maple side of the street that was closed due to this event.
A huge tent protected the food servers and the food. I would venture to guess there were over 200 Volunteers there toiling away to help those who are less fortunate than we are.
What impressed me were the homeless themselves. All seemed quite happy to be there to be served and waited on. Many were quite polite and grateful.
But, more than that the appreciation we felt as we were walking back to our car. People on the streets asked if we were volunteers and as we indicated we were, they thanked us. How fulfilling!
It is a most humbling experience and makes me realize that we take a lot of things for granted.
It is refreshing that Celebrities will make an appearance, but most grateful when they actually work and toil away next to us.

I don’t think i can give it anything less then a 5 star! I mean, this place feeds people who are down on their luck and do good things, who dares to rate this place a 1 star for having a dirty bathroom or rude server?
The neighborhood surrounding the mission is where the skid road is. This place was the designation for this year’s World AIDS DAY ride, a lot of the homeless people are HIV positive living on the street, they too, need to be noticed and heard.
Riding through skid road on my bike was an interesting experience, i gotta say, if I wasn’t with a big group, don’t think i got the cohones to even come here.

Nice place for the cause. My experience here really made me into a tougher individual than i thought. Ever since, i vowed to return here every chance i get to help out anyway i can. May blessings and rewards continue to go towards the helpless, homeless and those in need.

I was a little uneasy I was walking down 5^th street. Though it wasn’t my first time volunteering, this clean cut kid growing up the the suburbs (All-​American city of Santa Clarita) doesn’t see this stuff everyday. Oh man I hope I got the right street… was I all could think of as the street address numbers were a little off but I kept on walking to what looked like a dead end street. Continuing on my way I finally found what I was looking for the Los Angeles Mission.
I had volunteered for an event posted on Unilocal by Alan S. and was excited to get another opportunity to help others out. This event worked out perfectly with the timing but I didn’t want to deal with traffic so I took the metro and decided to walk from Union Station. After all it was said and done I was glad that I did as I was able to give a little of my time and help those less fortunate and I hope to come back and continue to help in whatever ways that I can.
This place is great through and through and I am happy to see the people that run it and put their own time into it truly seem glad to do so. This place provides a great service to the community and its members as it gives so much. From a place that provides temporary shelter, food and faith. It also provides jobs, clothes everyday services and skill development. Thank you and I hope to be back soon.
**It also gave me a chance to meet follow Unilocalers (1^st Unilocal on Unilocal contact, wurd) Jon and Victoria… what can’t this place do?

What other possible rating could one give to such an awesome organization. They have a great program here, that serves a much underserved population, that is a growing problem throughout the US. They give hope for those that may not have much, and not only give them food and shelter, but do much more to give the homeless a chance to get back on their feet, with many programs to help develop their skills to get off the streets. I had no idea everything they had going on behind the scenes – very impressive!
Great to meet fellow volunteer Unilocalers Victoria and Vinh!

Charity may begin at home, but it sure shouldn’t stay there. I think about what I have done in a charitable nature and think to myself, generosity is subjective, isn’t it? I don’t consider myself to be generous, but I am not miserly or unsacrificing by any stretch of the imagination. In general, I believe my generosity exceeds the standard, but does it really, given my means. And why do I so often ameliorate my compulsion to help with a monetary donation. My motivations are not obvious to me, yet I accept them to be genuine and sometimes intellectualize my actions by emphasizing the result as being more substantial then the provocation; this happens after charitable action, rarely if ever do I evaluate my intentions beforehand.
I worked at the Los Angeles Mission and had one of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. And the lunch ain’t bad either, take it from me I know the chef.