Day 4 - Alexandria House & URM

Our last day of volunteering in LA was rainy. We returned to the Union Rescue Mission. This time was much different from serving in the food kitchen. Our job that morning was to spend 90 minutes to 2 hours enjoying activities with folks who were in the "Day Room" to get off the street for a while. There was a little bit of a stereotype because they sent us with board games and cards to the men's day room, and the ladies on our trip took nail polish and coloring books to the women's day room. This was a bit awkward at first. It seemed kind of weird to try and get people who were "down" to play games, but that was my pre-conceived notions. We set up some tables with chess, checkers, Connect Four, UNO, etc. And we had enough room indoors to play Corn Hole (bean-bag toss). At first, I tried asking a couple guys to play corn hole, and they declined. Myself and a member of our group decided to just start playing and see if anyone wanted to join...no one did. After that game, we moved over to the game table and played Connect Four. One of the guests in the day room came over and asked to play, I was glad to have someone join in so I obliged. I'm not going to lie, I assumed it would be an easy win. Most of the folks have some kind of mental or emotional health issue going on in one way or another, and this guy looked like he fit right into that mold. To my surprise, I lost. I got to aggressive going for the win and didn't pay attention. Shame on me for stereotyping him and elevating myself. It was a good game. He didn't want a rematch though.

The next guy shared his name with us, Adolfo. Three of us began playing UNO with Adolfo. He told us his dreams of writing songs and being a musician. If I remember correctly, he plays guitar and sings. We encouraged him and had a fun time teaching him to play UNO. Towards the end of that game, a guy named Jason came up and began telling us his story. Jason looked clean and very well taken care of, and he was in a wheel chair. He said when he was a kid his dream was to be a major league baseball player. Then at age 12 he was at a Halloween party and trying to impress a girl who was already taken, he took off running across the street. When he turned around to come back, he didn't check for cars and was hit and suffered an injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. As he grew up he went to a couple different colleges and became a successful graphic designer. He eventually attended seminary at DTS in Dallas, TX, and felt called to be a pastor. While in seminary he was an apartment manager with a good friend of his. But along this time he also became an alcoholic, and that's when things began falling apart. One night after being at a party with his serious girlfriend, he was drunk and knew he shouldn't drive home. So he parked in the parking lot of McDonald's nearby and fell asleep. He awoke to someone tapping on the glass, he assumed it was the police. Instead, a guy said, "Wanna get high?" Before he could really get himself awake and respond, the guy had walked around to the passenger side of his car, opened the door, and got in the car. Jason watched him light up a bong of some sort, and soon joined him. It turns out the drug was crack cocaine. Jason was hooked, and his life spiraled out of control and he lost pretty much everything. That was twelve years ago I think. He's been clean for a few months now and working on staying that way and getting off the streets and back to graphic designing. It was amazing to hear his story and how willing he was to tell it. Keep Jason in your prayers with me.

Shortly after Jason finished, it was time to clean up and head to our next stop: Alexandria House. Alexandria House is transitional housing for women and women with children. When you drive down the street it is full of tall apartment buildings, and in between are these two houses that don't look very big from the front. The ministry was started by a Catholic nun and some friends a couple decades or so ago. They don't receive grant funding because if they did, they'd have to kick residents out after 90 days. They want to give these women enough time to turn things around and make it on their own. Behind one of the homes, there is a building that houses their preschool and after school programs for the kids that stay there. Behind the other house is a garage. Right now, the garage is full of stuff they will sell in a thrift sale. They hold two each month. The first is for the residents to take whatever they need/want. The second sale is open to the community and people can make donations for what they want. Alexandria house provides a safe place for women and their children to live and learn. While we were there, we wiped out all of the cabinets in their kitchen, and stacked up some of the items for the upcoming thrift sale. This ministry serves a great purpose because often times women have no where to go if they face domestic violence or other situations that put them out of their home. I was very impressed how they help the women learn and grow as well as give them a place to stay. Most stay for about a year to 18 months until they "graduate" from the program and have a job and housing of their own. It was great to hear their success.

That was what we really came to LA to do, to volunteer, but more importantly to hear the stories of people who have experienced life much different from what we have. Those stories impacted my story, and because of that, I can reflect and ask myself, "What story am I telling with my life?" By doing all the good I can, to all the people I can, in all the places I can, I hope my life story reflects the Gospel story much like the people we met this week, a story moving from death to life.

I didn't take any pictures on Thursday, but this is the two college students from St. Joseph, MO who went with me on the trip. There were over 40 of us from Missouri all together.