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

Pasadena Update #3

Well, it was back to sunshine again here in Southern California! And we all enjoyed it a lot more than the rainy weather yesterday. Today was our last day working on the floats for the parade and we spent extra time making them look spectacular.

Last night, 10 members of our group went back to the Rose Palace to continue working on some unfinished floats as they needed to be completed before the judging was done this morning at 8:00 a.m. Some floats, such as the Lutheran Hour float, were completed before the group arrived at 11:00 PM Our group members continued working on floats that the Petal Pushers agreed to decorate until 2:30 this morning. (As you may or may not know, the Petal Pusher volunteers decorate a number of floats for other companies.  The money received for decorating those floats pays for the cost of the Lutheran Hour float.  Brilliant idea!!)  Then they headed back to the hotel. They said that the freeways were a lot easier to travel then they are during rush hour!!  They slept in a little longer than the rest of us, but went back to the Palace to continue working on the floats at 10:00 this morning.

The rest of the group, who didn’t go back to work last night, headed to Rosemont (This is right by the Rose Bowl stadium where the football game is played!) today to work on the Honda float.

This is the largest float in the parade, as it has three sections. Honda is a major sponsor of the parade and there were a lot of people working on this float to make it look amazing. However, since they are such a large sponsor, their float couldn’t be judged for any awards. The front section represents Japan and the back section represents the United States with a bridge in the middle connecting them. Our group worked on red and white carnations for the float.

This was the same process as we did yesterday, so we were pretty much pros today! We prepared a lot of white carnations, which lined the entire bottom of the float. Some people even got to put some of the flowers on the Honda float. What a neat experience!

The floats are all motorized and driven by someone inside of the float. We got to watch as they pulled four of the floats out of the building and onto the street. Some floats have pieces that are too tall, so they are motorized to fold up and down. It’s interesting to watch them move up and get into place with nobody physically moving them. All of these moving pieces have to be let down every time there is a bridge or anything that it could run into. This means there’s a lot of things to be timed just right so nothing falls and breaks off.

All of the floats at Rosemont had to be done by 4:00, as that’s when judging was, but we left mid-morning to head to the Rose Palace and continue working on the floats over there. We met the rest of our group at the Palace and worked on the City of L.A. and Western Assets floats as they still needed to be finished before the parade tomorrow. Apparently, since they weren’t done at 8:00 a.m., they were judged unfinished, but we still came back and finish them. By the time we got there, many volunteers and crew leaders had already left, so we were working with those filling in who didn’t know much about the float decorations. This made it confusing to figure out what to do and which kinds of flowers and seeds needed to be placed in the specific areas. It was a slower process than what we were used to, but we still managed to get a lot accomplished on these floats.

We heard that the reason that the floats were not finished yesterday is because a couple groups of volunteers who promised to work did not show up so…IOWAY to the rescue!!!!

Before we left, we got a group picture in front of the Lutheran Hour float. It was amazing to see how much work was done on it after we left yesterday! It really is a work of God. Make sure to watch HGTV tomorrow morning to see our float. It is the 7^th one in the parade, so it should be on towards the beginning of the broadcast!

Hopefully everything works out tomorrow morning and we’ll be sitting right on the edge of Colorado Boulevard with a great view of the parade. We’re leaving the hotel at 5:00 a.m. with hopes of getting there early enough to find parking spaces that aren’t too far away. We’ll be all bundled up tomorrow morning as Pasadena is supposed to be near an all-time low of 32 degrees. Hopefully it warms up by the time the parade starts and we can continue enjoying this beautiful weather!

Happy New Year from Los Angeles!

Jeni Zeller-Journalist

Ellie Menz-Photos

Pasadena Update #2

December 30, 2014

Today was another eventful day as our group once again traveled to Pasadena to work on the floats. We left at 7:00 this morning and drove in completely different weather than yesterday! We enjoyed the nice California sunshine the entire day yesterday, but today it was clouded over and rained throughout the afternoon—something that isn’t that common here in Southern California. (I shouldn’t complain about the rainy weather, since it is a lot colder and maybe even snowing back home!)

Once arriving at the Rose Palace, we started working immediately on the floats. Most of us worked on the Lutheran Hour float for most of the day. Today was really the last day to work on the float because the final judging will be at 8:00 tomorrow morning.  It was amazing to see how much progress we got done on the float before we left at 4:00. We had the fun of putting on beautiful gerber daisies and gorgeous roses, along with many other dried and live flowers.

The Lutheran Hour float represents stories from the Bible, including a large Bible at the back. So much detail was put into the float, including Noah’s Ark with two pairs of animals on each side, and a manger with animals beside it.

Prepping flowers for float

Each float has over 500 different types of flowers and seeds, and we spent many hours handling the different kinds. Some of us learned how to cut and glue ti leaves, mums, and carnations to put on the float. The ti leaves filled the back of the Bible and the mums made a nice outline along the inside of the Bible. For the carnations, we put toothpicks in the base, so they could be stuck easily onto the float.

Manger scene on Lutheran Hour float

Another group finished the tablet containing the 10 Commandmetts, which was made completely out of seeds. There is so much detail in the float, so make sure to watch HGTV to see all of the hard work we put into each and every piece of the float.

Before any of the flowers can be pushed into the float base, which is made of spray foam over chicken wire, we had to cover it all with ferns and staple them in by hand. To make it easy to organize the multiple colored flowers, the float base (foam) is painted the color that matches the color of the flowers that will be placed there.

Noah's Ark on Lutheran Hour float

We had to be sure not to pin the ferns too dense as we still needed to be able to see the color of flowers that needed to be added. Then, after the entire float was covered with the ferns, we trekked over to the flower tent and we brought ‘pallets’ of flowers that we vialed yesterday. They were all organized by color, which made it easier to find and take to their specific place on the float.

Thousands of roses vialed and ready for the floats 

Kathryn, Karen and Julie 'preparing' the commandments

We started by finding a colored patch to fill with flowers. Each patch could have four or five different kinds of flowers of different shades of the color. On some parts we pushed the roses down farther and the other flowers were kept higher.

It was neat to see everyone working together to get the float finished in an orderly manner. We left before the float was completely done, so I’m sure it will be a surprise when we see it at the parade! We drove back to our hotel in the pouring rain and once again hit rush hour traffic. After a few wrong turns, all of the cars eventually made it back to the hotel just in time for a short break before supper.

After our devotions tonight, some of the members stayed to assemble more health kits, while the rest went to get a little rest before heading back for more work! 14 of our group members volunteered to go back to the Rose Palace tonight to keep working on unfinished floats so they are finished for the judging tomorrow morning at 8. They’ll be leaving the hotel around 10:00, so they decided to get a couple more hours of sleep before going back to work in the morning.

Those who didn’t go back to work another shift will be heading to the other float decorating site, Rosemont, tomorrow morning to work on the floats there. Tomorrow will be a big and stressful day for everyone working on the floats as they have to be finished by a certain time. Keep our group in your prayers as they travel back to the Palace tonight to continue working on the floats and those working at Rosemont tomorrow. Good night from a rainy Los Angeles!  Jeni Zeller

Pasadena Update #1

Hi Everyone,

Saturday was a driving day as 23 Iowans drove down to Kansas City where we flew out bright and early Sunday morning. We left our Residence Inn hotel a little after 5 a.m. and made our trek to the airport where we boarded our 7:05 a.m. flight to Los Angeles. We met our partners, a group of 15 from Indiana, at Enterprise Rentals to make our group total 38.

We checked into our Residence Inn hotel and were starving so headed to a nearby Hometown Buffet. After making a stop at the famous Ralph’s grocery to stock up on some food for the week it was time for a short Sunday afternoon nap for some of the group.  Nearly everyone brought an extra suitcase of hygiene items to be distributed at Skid Row for the homeless so in the evening, we started organizing supplies for hygiene kits. After a long and exhausting day, we went to bed early to get ready for our car ride to Pasadena and start working on the floats for the parade.

Monday morning we loaded up our 8 cars, leaving a little after 7, and made the trip to Pasadena. After arriving at the Rose Palace, part of the group went inside to work on the Lutheran Hour float, while the rest went out to the flower tent where they vialed roses for most of the day getting them ready to put on the floats in

the next couple of days. This process went really fast as each group had a person stripping the leaves, another cutting the stem, someone pulling the vials from the water, and another putting the vials in a Styrofoam square. Some of us glued beans onto the letters and pieces of the float, while others glued marigold powder to the sides and top of the Bible on the float.

We worked right up until 4:00 when our shift was finished and headed back to our hotel. As we were getting closer to rush hour, the traffic slowed down at some points during our trip. We made it back safely, and relaxed our aching bones for a little while. Residence Inn provided a nice supper of chicken fajitas and we enjoyed that before some devotion time and hygiene kit making time. We discussed our thoughts of the day commonly known to IOWAY people as “pows and wows.”

Tomorrow we will head back to Pasadena to work another shift, beginning a little before 8. I know we’ll be amazed at how different the float will look tomorrow and see how much has progressed during the work of the night shift. The temperatures are higher here, which affects the way flowers open and the time to begin installing the final roses is being adjusted by the crew chiefs. We look forward to having all the floats we are working on look absolutely magnificent as they head down Colorado Boulevard on Jan. 1. The Lutheran Hour float is a knock-out this year with such beauty and intimate detail. We wish you could be here with us to see it take shape!

We will finish assembling the hygiene kits in the coming days, with all of the items we brought in our mountain of luggage to share at Skid Row on Jan. 3^rd. Many churches and individuals sent money for that purpose so a trip to the local Dollar Store may also be on our agenda in the coming days as we fill all the towel kits we have with us for the homeless as we show God’s love to them in that special way.

God’s blessings to each to you!  Jeni Zeller