Dirty

Dirty, Filthy, Violent, Smelly, Disgusting, and Hopeless…these were the kind of descriptive words that were floating through my mind when I was first informed about our impending day of service at Skid Row. We started off at the chapel situated on the grounds of the dream center and Matt the leader of the under the bridge ministry, led the volunteers in prayer.

We gamely boarded the mini-van and set off to our destination, we were a real motley crew of: French, British, American…young and old. I silently listened to rest of the volunteer’s conversations while looking for the signs that we had finally arrived. It was totally unexpected to see the sunshine; I almost expected the sun to hide behind the clouds. The buildings showed signs of neglect and there was litter strewn across the streets but overall I almost started to feel slightly hopeful, since the images I first saw, did not match up with my initial imaginings.

On arrival, I helped the skid row volunteer veterans to set up by carrying in the cargo of hot food to the site…then I saw the people. In the beginning it was hard to look at the people of Skid Row, it was uncomfortable as I saw their needs too easily. After we set up the food tables I noticed a lady who looked anorexic, stumbling past with a plate of food given to her by one of our volunteers. Her eyes hardly registered anyone around her and I was painfully aware of the bandages that were barely covering the open sores on her body and the dirty IV drip that was hanging from her right arm.

I began to make myself look into the people’s eyes as they passed by with their carefully balanced plates. To really see the faces of the people that Jesus died for. As I looked around at the floor of the drop-in center and the many bodies that were crashed out on the ground from drugs or sleep deprivation, I began to realize how naive I was.

Not even my imagination could have prepared me for this amount of desperation. And I started to feel their hopelessness and sensed the spiritual battles being waged over their lives. When we first got there I stayed pretty close to the volunteers and eventually broke away to walk around the center to just pray quietly, looking for anyone who needed someone to talk to.

The few people that I was able to speak with were really precious to me. It was their stories that encouraged me. To hear their tentative responses for: a happier future, for renewed dreams and restored relationships. It was this delicate hopefulness they had that pointed out God’s grace at work in their lives, and I was able to hope with them.

-Chaka

At First Glance...

When first arriving at Skid Row, it’s hard to know how you should feel about the people surrounding you. It’s a place that many people would never want to go unless they had to. But to others Skid Row is their home; it’s the only place they have that they can call home. They not only live in Skid Row, but they also sleep, eat and use the bathroom all in the same little space they have to call their own.

The people in Skid Row will surprise you; they all have such different personalities and they’re all there for different reasons. Everyone living in what seems to be their own story book just waiting for someone to come by and open the front cover to uncover the incredible, yet heart wrenching story. I personally was able to hear and see some of these unique stories; it was a privilege to be invited into the past lives of some of the residents of Skid Row.

I was able to meet the sweetest of ladies named Alice, whose heart was so big, she had an infectious smile, and a truly genuine personality. In Alice’s story nothing more than a series of unfortunate events landed her in Skid Row. She hasn’t abused drugs or alcohol for years now; she was clean in hopes of getting out of Skid Row. But as many residents of Skid Row find out, it’s much easier to get into the streets than it is to get out. Alice’s want and need to get out of the streets nearly broke my heart. We prayed over Alice and gave her the Dream Center’s number in hopes she would call and enroll in discipleship.

We understand that so many people in Skid Row want to get off the streets and turn their lives around, but we also understand that it’s not always easy. The strongholds are so thick in Skid Row. As soon as someone decides that they want to leave within the next hour, the next day, the next week the enemy will attack them and try to hold them in his prison; he won’t easily let them walk out of his grip.

There’s a cycle in Skid Row that makes it nearly impossible to leave once you’re in. But I believe we serve a God not of the impossible but of the possible. And with the persistent effort of the Dream Center, and all the outreaches that go out on a weekly basis to Skid Row bringing the hope and love of God, that those who want to leave will be enabled to do so. We believe that in stories like those similar to Alice’s will have happy endings due to the Dream Center’s constant visits that build relationships, so that each day brings Alice closer to her dream of leaving the streets.

-Briana-Leigh

Praying for Dana

I have knocked on many doors since first going out with Adopt-A-Block: doors that open to half awake smiling people who speak very broken English, doors that show family’s overflowing clothes and assortment of boxes and broken toys that spill out to their front porches, doors that open partially to show concerned, sad eyes only seen mysteriously behind a metal screen and doors that stay closed.

Dana was one of those doors that I had knocked on several times and had just about left to go onto to the next one. She told me ‘I don’t want to open this door to you or you’ll be smelling weed’. I told her that I just wanted to meet her, and saw her slowly open the door and give me a skeptical look. I asked her if she had heard of the Dream Center or had ever been to Angelus Temple. Dana smiled and told me that she had and that she had come to a point in her life where she needed to try out God and that God must have sent us to her that day.


She told me about being in prison and crying out to God when she was at her lowest point. Dana said that more recently she had felt tired of being involved in gangs and wanted to better herself, she just didn’t know where to start. I told her how much Jesus loved her and how he wanted to change her life around, that he knew all of her pain. Dana said that she realized that she had tried living life her way and she was sick and tired of being beaten up and high. She was tired of this life and wanted to see what God could do.

I asked her if I could pray and we prayed for thanks to God for giving us this divine appointment. I was able to see Dana two more times since that first encounter and meet her son, she still is happy to see us and gives me a hug hello but I can see in her eyes that she still hasn’t taken that next step to give everything to God and give him a chance. I will continue to intercede for her that she will one day give her life to him. I want to see her happy and restored in the way that I know only God can enable her to become.

Being a part of Adopt-A-Block has made me feel even more the responsibility we have as Children of God to stand in the gap for the lost and intercede on their behalf, why don’t we as Christians make it our prerogative to be stubborn for God, as much as the enemy has his minions to: steal, kill and destroy, let us become more aggressive at taking these people back for the kingdom of God.


-Chaka

Skid Row

As the city blocks stream past I have no idea what to expect. I’ve heard of Skid Row before, but hearing the stories and experiencing it for your self are two completely different things. One you only imagine in your head with the details provided by the descriptor, the other you will forever have ingrained in your memory. The sight of hundreds of people simply existing in the streets is one that is not easily forgotten. The dirt in the gutters, the pieces of paper fluttering in the wind, the homeless man asking for money; it is all vividly impressed upon my mind.



I cannot honestly say I knew what to expect, I know I had some preconceptions fueled by the stories of others and by Hollywood films; however, when faced with the reality of the people living with next to nothing, people in bondage by their addictions or circumstances, I am not able to articulate the sympathy aroused. We come not to show them how wrong they are, we come simply to be salt and light; we come to bring love and peace. I don’t know that I will ever be able to grow tired of how a simple plate of food can bring such a hope.

I spoke to one man named Mark; battling with alcoholism, he is struggling to get his birth certificate sent from another state so he can get back on his feet. All he kept saying over and over again was that if he only had his I.D. he would be able to get a job and get back on his feet. Above all though he kept talking about how he had faith that regardless of how bleak the circumstances he had faith it would work out. As he pulled out a stubble of a cigarette, me and a coworker prayed for him asking for favor as he goes through the process of getting a job. The faith in those deep blue eyes and the simple appreciation for us listening and praying for him is not something I will soon easily forget.



Dennis drew me from the moment I saw him, in a place where many do not have hope left in their eyes, this man’s joy shown out clear as the dawn. As I sat down and spoke with him he told me how he had not eaten in three days and was so appreciative of the meal we had brought him. I told him about the Dream Center and Food Chapel, and he expressed even more gratitude for the meal. We talked of friends, family, and the meal its self. He spoke of how he had only been on Skid Row for a matter of days and was here to visit his sick mother in the hospital and to try to find his sister. I asked him if he was a Christian, to which he replied yes and then proceeded to tell me of his history in the church choir.

As his story unfolded before me I came to discover how he was a divorced man and unsure of his mother’s salvation as she lay in a precarious state. I remembered Jesus’ parable of the workers in Mathew 20, where regardless of the amount of work each did they were all paid the same, and encouraged him with that story for his mother’s salvation. He thanked me for talking to him and said he is looking forward to coming to church and the Food Chapel.

If nothing else this experience proved to let me see with my own eyes what I had only ever heard about. I don’t know what impact I had on these two men, but I hope I left an impression of Jesus with them just as they left me with a greater understanding that Skid Row is not a place; Skid Row is a thousand different stories intertwined together in one place. I want to know those stories. I don’t want to simply see a face from behind a electric window, I want to see the heart and hear the struggles of that person. No longer will I be satisfied with hearing from afar, I want it first hand.

-Joel

Food Truck on the Southside

I finally had the chance to speak with Jim this week, a quiet man who usually parks himself in his electric wheelchair at the front of the line when we come by with food. I said hello and he told me how much the Dream Center has been a blessing to him, since he had a stroke in 95’ he has been living on disability allowance. He cheerfully told us ‘You guys really help!’ he has been receiving food and provisions from the Dream Center for over six months now.

It was amazing to see how the line of people now stretched around the street corner as more people came along, since the time I had started to talk to Jim. It was a relatively sunny day and the children were playing close by the doorsteps of their apartments, which I was informed is a normal occurrence for this neighborhood as gang fire happens around here all too often. So the children, are kept close enough to be pulled into their homes by their parents.

I could never imagine that feeling of always being on edge, of fearing for your family’s well being on a daily basis. But they somehow do just this and having the support of the Dream Center’s: food truck, adopt-a-block and the bus ministry to take them to church helps them to have the hope of a better future.

-Chaka

Depending on Jesus 1,000 percent

“Praise the Lord” is a phrase that frequently comes out of Jewel’s mouth. As famished individuals walk through the food line, she puts a scoop of nutritious vegetables on their plates and greets each of them. It was not too long ago that she was facing similar situations as the people that she serves. Even now, she is dealing with her own set of unfavorable circumstances.

Jewel grew up in Los Angeles not too far from the Dream Center, where she comes to help serve each week. One of her four sisters told her about Angelus Temple, where she started attending a couple of months ago, and as a result, found out about the outreaches and ministries of the Dream Center. She felt in her heart that God was telling her to reach out to those in need in her community, and her past church did not give her that opportunity.

For about five years now, Jewel has suffered with a chronic muscular disease as well as a mental illness, which have disabled her from working. Not only has this affected her financial condition, but she does not have the means to properly take care of her children, who have been placed in foster care. She is hoping to be able to relocate into a new place so as to make a home for her children. Nevertheless, Jewel continues to depend on Jesus “1,000 percent”, and trusts Him to meet her needs as she meets the tangible needs of others.

“The homeless and hopeless need more attention at this time than I do,” comments Jewel. She does not allow her own struggles to deter her from giving others a helping hand. In addition to the Under the Bridge outreach, which goes to Skid Row and Rampart every week to distribute plates of hot food, Jewel also wants to get involved with Project Prevention. The Project Prevention ministry of the Dream Center visits families who have been impacted by the foster care system, and gives them the opportunity to restore their family unit. Though Jewel faces hardships of her own daily, she has chosen to serve rather than seek to be served, and as a result, has blessed many hungry people in Los Angeles.

Skid Row Streets

It’s only a short drive from the Dream Center to the streets of Skid Row, but a world of difference. These streets are lined with clumps of people, either sitting along the dirty walls or pushing all they own in makeshift carts. Unlike many of the surrounding areas, cars don’t travel these blocks as much. Instead the people roam the streets, looking for food, looking for drugs. The government and a fair share of charity organizations have tried to help out this hopeless community. But even with the homeless shelters and government housing, the hopelessness is still visible, and it covers everything.

In one particular homeless shelter, the women and men’s sleeping quarters are divided. It may not be what any socialized person would consider “sleepable”, seeing as it consists of a concrete floor and concrete roof. But to these folks, it is the most comfort and coverage they’ve gotten all week. A frail, middle-aged woman named Don had been one of the many making use of this shelter on Skid Row this week.

“I’d really like some prayer,” she said, slumped over the food we had just given her. Her eyes were heavy, red and watery and they very scarcely made eye contact. She looked down in shame as she told her story, her reason for wanting prayer. “I just want him to come back, my husband of 14 years won’t talk to me.” She had suffered all kinds of abuse from him and other men in her life, along with being used as a prostitute. But this life only left her lonely and desperate in search of what would truly make her happy.

I grabbed her dirt-covered hand as we talked and prayed of that true happiness. We cried, and she held my hand even tighter. “Thank you, you guys are heaven-sent.” Her desire to leave this hopeless life and put God first was very evident. In the midst of these other weary, sleeping women, she raised one hand and prayed aloud God’s intervention in her life.

The food we brought along was the gateway to interactions like this. The funds you provide when adopting this block change lives one prayer at a time. Don’s life was changed by one of those prayers. It is through friends like you making it possible for us to take the food and love she and others like her need right to where they are on the streets of Skid Row. We will keep going back each week to others like her with your help. May we all be ready and willing to always provide the help and hope that this world needs.


Changing the world together, one block at a time,

The Adopt-A-Block Team