Andy Bales' End of Month Update - November 2022

I want to give you an end-of-December update from Angeles House.

Starting the new year with a big announcement by the new mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, declaring a state of emergency on the homelessness crisis, which hopefully will bring all kinds of resources. We don't know what will happen because we've had all sorts of resources not spent wisely. Pray for wise use of the many resources coming our way from federal, state, and local governments. 

I pray the state of emergency relieves some of the family pressure on Union Rescue Mission because now we have 250 families and 450 children under our roofs which has been demanding. It's been unprecedented, with more families coming our way than ever in history, including the Great Recession.

Honestly, we couldn't have done it without you. We've stepped up to meet every family trying to figure out what to do when the moratorium on evictions runs out because we think many more families are coming our way. More two-parent families, more single dads, and many more families headed our way. It's tough to do, however; we'll keep stepping up at all three of our sites and continue making a difference. 

We were able to get out and finally honor PPG Aerospace with an angel of compassion award for the painting they've done downtown, the work they've done at Hope Gardens, and the hiring of our Ladies from Hope Gardens, which made a difference in their lives. We couldn't thank PPG enough, and we had a chance to stop and say thank you and continue our partnership, and hopefully, more moms from Hope Gardens can get hired in the future.

We ended Christmas strong because we had not one Christmas store; we had three Christmas stores. Friday at Angeles House, we held our Christmas store and had all of our new families; 80 families at Angeles House in South L.A. Two-parent families, single dads with kids, single moms with their kids, and anybody with kids to shop for their kids at Angeles House.

We emulate and try to reflect the love of God in everything we do, including a Christmas Eve dinner of rib-eye steaks, baked potato, and creamed corn at every one of our sites. We celebrated a Christmas Eve long-time tradition that we've had for 36 years. We celebrated Christmas day with hams and turkeys at every one of our meals.

I want to thank you because we couldn't reflect God's love in the way we do without your support. You make all of this possible. You made 2022 possible as we stepped up more than ever to meet the needs of people coming our way. 

God Bless You, and Thank You.