Pasadena Update #6

Written January 3, evening.

Hello from Los Angeles! Today, January 3, is our last day of activities, and we definitely enjoyed the warm weather outside before having to head back to the snowy weather in Iowa tomorrow! We visited Skid Row today and it was a scene that a lot of us have never seen before.

Skid Row is a 55 square mile section of downtown L.A. where many homeless people live on the streets. The name comes from when people first started moving out to California, especially L.A. This was the place where there was a lot of work, as this location used to be a forest. They would skid the logs (from the trees they cut down) in a row, which is where the term originated.

We served at Union Rescue Mission, which is in Skid Row. The Mission Center has been around for 125 years, helping the homeless get back on their feet and off the streets. Their building is 225,000 square feet and costs about $12 million to operate each year. There’s about 1200 residents in the center, who are participating in programs to improve their lives. Each wing of the building houses people (dorm style living) recovering from different addictions, whether it be drugs, alcohol, or anything else. There’s about 300-400 people in each program at one time and it takes a year to recover and to graduate from the program. The Center holds a graduation ceremony every six months.

We got a tour of the Mission Center from two guides.  One gentleman lived on the streets from the time he was 16 until he was 42. He was addicted to drugs and alcohol and lost his family during that time. He decided to enter the program to get clean and struggled to stay in at some points, but was always drawn back to the center. He graduated in 2003 and got a job with the center and is still working there to help other people get off the streets. After not seeing his kids for years, he was embraced by them after graduating from the program. He is now married, knows his kids and grandkids. Since he was addicted to alcohol, he now helps people recovering from alcohol addiction.

We took 437 hygiene kits to the Mission Center to hand out to the homeless. The Center serves lunch from 11-2:30 for homeless people in the area. We handed out our kits to them when they first walked into the lunchroom, before getting their food.

Each hygiene kit contained a comb, soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothbrush and toothpaste, razor, and lotion. We also handed out underwear, socks, bras, t-shirts, notepads, pens, bookmarks, bags, and Bibles. The Bibles we gave away were for the 3^rd grade reading level, so that it would be easy for everyone to read. We served four different groups of people. We first gave kits to the men staying in the shelter, followed by the women and children, and then the women staying in the shelter. The last group we served were the men living out on the streets.

From visiting Skid Row, we all realized how fortunate we are to live in Iowa and Indiana with healthy lifestyles. We live in safe communities where we don’t have to watch every step we take. It’s been a great learning experience for all of us out here in Los Angeles and we all will definitely continue sharing what we’ve learned when we get home.

Please pray for our safety as we return home. God Bless you!

Jeni Zeller- journalist

Ellie Menz-Photos

Note from Ellie:  The part of Skid Row that is always the toughest for me is to see the Moms and Dads with young children on the street.  If you wish to learn more about the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles, please go to www.unionrescuemission.org   At their website, in addition to learning about the mission, you can request to be on their email list to receive updates and you can make donations as well.

If you wish to send hygiene items, socks, underwear, Bibles, etc., send to

Union Rescue Mission Attn: Jeremiah Johnson
545 S. San Pedro St.
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(213) 347-6300

Pasadena update #5

Hello family and friends of the Pasadena group!

 Today was our “free day” between working on floats and doing the Skid Row adventure.  The day began with a welcome relief since we didn’t need to wake up at such an early morning hour. We were free to decide how to spend the day and most chose to do some sightseeing while a few wanted to sit around and simply relax and go to the beach in the afternoon.  

 About half of the group hit the freeways again and headed north into scenic country.  California is so beautiful with the dry hillsides and mountain ranges all around.  They drove to Simi Valley where the President Reagan Library and burial site is located.  The property is such a fitting tribute to our former president. Everything is so well done and the atmosphere around the grounds is nothing but quiet and peaceful with flowers, trees and shady benches to sit on and ponder.  The view over the valley is breathtaking!  They took a tour through Air Force One which is suspended in mid-air and on display inside the huge building.  This is the Air Force One that was used by a number of presidents and President Reagan logged the most miles on it.  It has now been replaced with a newer version.

This group was the most ambitious since they decided to do it up right and take in two adventures in one day.  After leaving the library and museum they headed back south, this time way down to San Pedro to the dock where the battleship USS Iowa is resting. (I am inserting a description of the USS Iowa that my husband, Lynn, wrote last year after seeing the ship) " It is an impressive ship no matter how you look at it.  But once you tour and learn about all the weaponry onboard, its firepower boggles the mind.  The gun turrets are encased in 17 inches of solid steel making them impenetrable to any existing weapon.  Those guns can continue to fire no matter what is thrown at the ship.  Other guns on the decks will literally pulverize anything that comes close, including modern day incoming missiles.  The ship was only hit two times; one hit left a tiny mark not noticeable except for the arrow to show the spot and the other left no mark at all.  The famous ship was in service three different times and could be called into service again if ever needed.  It was modernized and has modern weapons as well as the huge guns with their awesome firepower.  It can now launch Tomahawk missiles and rockets. "

Part of our group enjoyed several of the nearby beaches, eating out, visiting and enjoying the nice weather.

A large group also went to the Ronald Reagan Museum but did not go to the USS Iowa.  I think most of them also ‘hit a beach’. 

Four in our group braved the LA transit and toured Hollywood and various CA sites.

 After devotions, sharing pows and wows and loading the vehicles with all the items we will deliver tomorrow at Skid Row, we celebrated Lisa Zeller’s birthday with delicious chocolate cake and ice cream.  I don’t think this group can ever get their fill of chocolate!!

 I am thanking God because our group has had eight vehicles crawling in and out of horrific traffic for six days now at all hours of the day and night.  Yet, not a scratch on any so far!  Most of us are not California trained but perhaps we are now.  And we have only been lost a few times!  I personally think it is a feat to keep that many vehicles together on the mass of spaghetti cement they call freeways out here.  Thank you, God!  To you be the glory!

Ellie Menz-Journalist and Photos

Pasadena Update #4

It’s 2015! Our group welcomed in the new year by celebrating at the Rose Bowl Parade. We got up really early this morning (3:30 a.m. early) so that we could leave the hotel and head towards Pasadena by 5:00 a.m. Our hotel, Residence Inn, made us a nice bag of yogurt, an apple, banana and granola bar for us to eat for breakfast. This food would have to hold us over until we ate lunch after the parade.

Since we were driving so early in the morning, all of the Christmas and building lights lit up Los Angeles. It was such a beautiful sight to see! We were very blessed this morning when it came to parking as we headed to Pasadena with no clue where we would park. We found a nice parking lot, with enough open spaces to fit all eight of our cars in it. We only had to walk about four or five blocks from the parking lot to our seats for the parade. This was nice since it was cold outside and we were all bundled up to stay warm. The temperature was 32 degrees when we got to Pasadena, which tied a record low for January 1^st. I’m glad to say it warmed up as the sun came up and hit us directly during the parade to keep us nice and warm.

I’m going to say we had the best seats for the parade. We were right on Colorado Boulvard and had a wide open view of the parade. Our seats were saved for us by a family from Pasadena who attends the Lutheran church. They stayed outside the whole night saving our seats so that we could have a great view of the parade. We got to our seats a little after 6 and had to wait awhile, since the parade started at 8. During this time, some members of our group headed to the bathrooms (porta-potties) as the lines were fairly short as most of the crowd hadn’t arrived yet. There were bleachers lining the side of the streets for people to sit and watch the parade. By the time the parade started, the streets were packed!

At 8:00 the parade started with a flyover, but the floats didn’t start getting to us until 8:40. The parade route is 5 miles long and takes about 2 hours to complete. The parade was filled with floats, bands, and groups for us to watch. It was an amazing sight to see everything that we had worked on completely done. Our Lutheran float was the seventh float in the parade and we were glad to learn that it made it onto at least one of the major TV networks’ broadcasts.

After the parade was over, we packed up our chairs and carried them back to a pickup, so that they could be transported easily back to the church. We walked back to our cars where we tailgated for lunch. We had ham or turkey sandwiches, chips and crackers, fruits and vegetables, and cookies for dessert. This was a great way to eat lunch and allow most of the traffic to leave before us, so we weren’t trying to leave at the same time as everyone else.

After arriving back at the hotel around 1:30, we were able to rest for a couple hours. We then went to the 99 cent store where we bought more supplies for our health kits. We bought deodorant, razors, toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, combs, notepads and pens, socks, and much more. It was a unique experience to have 38 people in matching sweatshirts go shopping and spending over $1,200 on hygiene items. (Money was donated by individuals and churches.) We assembled more health kits tonight with our newly bought supplies. We assembled a total of 537 hygiene kits this week!!!

Tomorrow is our free day and everyone has plans to visit some museums and the beaches in Southern California. It will be a great day and we all pray for safe travels as we make our way to our destinations.

Happy New Year from Los Angeles!

Jeni Zeller-Journalist

Ellie Menz-Photos