The 7:36 am metro train rolled to a stop at the upland station. It had been many years since I rode on a train, I had an appointment in downtown Los Angeles so figured I’d take the train into Union Station.
Metro Train arriving at Upland Station
About an hour later we arrived in union station, near Olvera Street, Little_Tokyo, and Skid_Row…
Skid_Row is about a 4 square mile area in downtown Los Angeles, where thousands of people live in tents, cardboard boxes and whatever they can find.
As you walk from Union station the surroundings are nice like other areas, with shopping centers, apartments…
Then the smell changes and the sights change, its smells like urine and you see tents, cardboard boxes and people living in plastic enclosures. (Ironically, if you’ve traveled to a 3rd world country for missions this isn’t to far from what you may smell and see)
Walking down the street you can see Tents where people live on skid row
The appointment was with a distant relative named Pat who helps at the Fred Jordan Mission in skid Row.
Fred Jordan is one of a half dozen missions in skid row, please see the link below for a map of skid row and ministries/ resources:
Google Map of Skid Row: Missions/ Resources
In december I hoped to visit as many missions as possible, I was able to visit 3 of them.
For me it all started with the Fred Jordan Mission…my first memory of helping the homeless was going with my high school rotary club to help at the Fred Jordan Thanksgiving meal outreach.
It is only fitting that the first mission to be spotlighted will be the Fred Jordan Mission in the next blog…
