When I first arrived downtown, it looked like it might rain a little bit, but luckily it never did. I saw Ron again under the 4th Street bridge. This Sunday he was pushing a shopping cart about to do some recycling. He told me, "I don't make any money recycling when it rains." The reason behind this is that there are fewer people out when it rains, so there is less trash (ie. recyclables) to collect. I heard that complaint more than once Sunday. I was happy to finally see Willie on Olympic Blvd just east of Alameda. He was pushing his cart and had few recyclables and very few possessions in it. The last couple of times I've seen Willie he hasn't been with Tara Lee or any of the other people he usually hangs with. Apparently, there's been a falling out among them. I was able to not only help Willie with some food and water but also some shirts, a pair of jeans and some socks. He needed a pair of shoes, but I just didn't have any his size. Willie gave me a general idea of where he's been staying and I'll have to keep watching for him. He seems very lonely these days. I was glad we were able to spend some time in prayer together.
When I left Willie I drove to the end of that same block and saw Alan who I hadn't seen since the end of last summer. He looked exactly the same with a full beard and the same green overcoat. I doubt if he's bathed since I saw him last. I called out to him, "Alan is that you?" and he looked up and over at me and I'm sure I saw a smile on his face. I asked how he'd been doing in all the rain, but all I got was a shrug of his shoulders and a slight nod of his head, as if to say, "I've made it through another winter." Alan doesn't talk to anyone, but I was sure glad to see him and I think he was glad to see me. I've wondered what's happened to him the last month or so because I haven't seen him around. I'm glad to know he's OK.
Before ending up down on skid row I was able to help four other men. During this time I don't think I've ever seen as many people digging in trash cans and some, in fact, eating out of them. One man's name was Richard. He had found a plastic thing that fast food places will put a sandwich or a salad in and he was eating the leftovers. I've encountered Richard before and he has never accepted help from me and Sunday was no different even though he was eating out of a trash can. Another man looking for food in a trash can was a man named Jeremiah who I remembered from about 5 weeks ago. At the time I saw him then, I commented that I didn't think he was in his right mind. Sunday confirmed my suspicions that he is mentally ill, however, he did accept the help as did a couple of others on that same block.
The lasting impression of Sunday's trip was seeing a man sitting on the sidewalk on the corner of Los Angeles St and 7th Ave. He was sitting with his back up against a pillar of the building on that corner. His face was deformed. Where his right eye should have been was covered in discolored skin. Something about his mouth and lips didn't quite look right either. I knew right away I had to find a place to park and get back to this man. I parked again in front of the police station and grabbed a bag with a couple of cans of food and some packs of cookies and started walking the couple of blocks back to where this man was. When I got there I noticed he had a clear plastic cup with some money that he had collected from the people passing by. I walked up and said, "Hey, this is for you." and handed him the bag. I asked what his name was and he told me his name was Jerry. I noticed his right hand was bandaged up and wished I had brought some socks with me to give him too. I asked if he usually can be found around in this area and he told me yes. I told him I'd start looking for him again when I come down there. When he answered he sounded not only completely coherent but relatively happy and upbeat too. There were a lot of people walking around on that corner and a private conversation was pretty much impossible, but next time I'm going to just sit down next to Jerry and take the time to get to know him. I'm looking forward to telling him that God loves him and I do too. Until next week. --John
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Downtown 3/20/2011-The first day of Spring?
Rain threatened on and off from the time I arrived at 10:00 a.m. By the time I left at 1 p.m. it was raining heavily. So much for sunshine on the first day of Spring. I figured I'd be finding people under the freeways or at least under something. The first guy I hooked up with was Ron who usually lives on top of the 4th St bridge, but Sunday he was underneath it. He told me when it rains it's the only time they (the homeless) can legally laydown on the sidewalks during the day. He was all wrapped up in a large white nylon-type blanket and riding out the bad weather.
After leaving Ron, I drove over to Olive St. In front of an abandoned auto body repair shop I found three latino men huddled under the front doorway overhang. They were all sitting/laying on an old mattress on the ground there. Last year I had a quite memorable enounter with four men in front of this exact same location. It was sunny that day. When I lifted up a bag of food so they could see it, two of the men immediately got up and came over to the car. The third man, after seeing the other two getting the bags got up and came over too. I heard him say, "comida" (food) and he kept making eating motions with his hands. All three men were hungry. The first two who came over where Hernando and Luis. I know I've helped Hernando before and probably Luis too. The third man I didn't get his name. While driving over to Olive St. I happened to pass by a man sleeping under an awning on 16th St. just before Main St. After leaving the men on Olive St I needed to find a gas station (and soon) and ended up in a station just across the street from this man. His name was Jose. Although, I intended to drive back to this guy, after seeing the men on Olive St and then noticing my car was almost out of gas, I kind of forgot about (photo)
him. Wouldn't you know there was a gas station directly across the street from where he was (although the station turned out to be closed)!
I haven't seen Willie in about a month now. I thought I might try driving by where I last saw him on the east side of Alameda. However, when I got there he wasn't there. I did see a man laying under the freeway there all covered up with a couple of blankets. It turned out to be my buddy John Stokes. He has lived for years about 20 or 30 feet away from where I saw him Sunday. Recently, the police have made him move from there during the day. I commented about the few things he had with him. He told me the police had taken everything away a week or so before.
One of the things he missed the most was a little AM radio that he had. He said he listened to his favorite program, Coast to Coast, every night on it. He asked me if I could get him another radio with an ear piece. I told him I'd look for one. John had on a light jacket with no shirt on underneath. I was able to come up with a couple of long sleeve shirts, a knit cap and a sweatshirt with a hood. He was doing a lot better when I left.
At this point I had one bag of food left. I decided to prayer-walk down skid row before leaving the area. As I drove around the area a little bit before parking the car I found David sitting in a doorway on 7th. He was cold and hungry and it was starting to rain more consistantly. I parked in front of the police station. The tents had already gone up along the sidewalks (see photo) due to the rain. Most people had found a place to hang out under a covering so there weren't near as many
people out standing around as there usually are. I walked around a couple of blocks that I normally don't go down. One man named Bill, was struggling with his cart and umbrella. I asked him how he was doing and he said, "Miserable." That kind of sums up the general feel of the whole place Sunday. I did give Bill a can of food, although he passed on the cookies due to the condition of his teeth. What is normally, during good weather, a hard enough struggle to survive, is made even more difficult in the wet weather. Even crossing the streets is difficult due to the water in the gutters. Most of the gutters seem to be stopped up so there is a lot of standing water that one has to jump over to cross a street. That's one of the reasons I didn't walk all the way down 6th like I normally do. However, every side street down in the skid row area is home to many people too. It was difficult to watch the people with few possessions trying to get by, in particular, those with shoes that obviously didn't fit. There were also many people with no jackets, maybe just a small blanket draped over their shoulders. On a digital thermometer I had noticed the temperature at 50 degrees.
It was starting to rain a lot more and by the time I got to Cloud Nine Alley it was a real downpour. I parked and hopped over the water in the street/gutter and started down the alley. At the south entrance to the alley I noticed someone new had put up a temporary 'house' complete with plywood and tarps to help keep them dry during the rain. He won't be able to stay there on Monday. It looked like Ray was probably in his 'house' too, but since it was raining so heavily at this point I didn't try to talk to any of the residents. I prayed, I stepped over large pools of water and tried to keep out of the range of the drain pipes that were spewing out a lot of water. One thing that the rain will do, is help wash away the smell of urine which can be overpowering at times around skid row and Cloud Nine alley. I was really soaked by the time I got back to the car. I survived, the folks living on the streets and alleys survived and more importantly, winter is officially over! From the streets of downtown L.A. I can tell you we're all looking forward to springtime! Until next week. John
After leaving Ron, I drove over to Olive St. In front of an abandoned auto body repair shop I found three latino men huddled under the front doorway overhang. They were all sitting/laying on an old mattress on the ground there. Last year I had a quite memorable enounter with four men in front of this exact same location. It was sunny that day. When I lifted up a bag of food so they could see it, two of the men immediately got up and came over to the car. The third man, after seeing the other two getting the bags got up and came over too. I heard him say, "comida" (food) and he kept making eating motions with his hands. All three men were hungry. The first two who came over where Hernando and Luis. I know I've helped Hernando before and probably Luis too. The third man I didn't get his name. While driving over to Olive St. I happened to pass by a man sleeping under an awning on 16th St. just before Main St. After leaving the men on Olive St I needed to find a gas station (and soon) and ended up in a station just across the street from this man. His name was Jose. Although, I intended to drive back to this guy, after seeing the men on Olive St and then noticing my car was almost out of gas, I kind of forgot about (photo)
him. Wouldn't you know there was a gas station directly across the street from where he was (although the station turned out to be closed)!
I haven't seen Willie in about a month now. I thought I might try driving by where I last saw him on the east side of Alameda. However, when I got there he wasn't there. I did see a man laying under the freeway there all covered up with a couple of blankets. It turned out to be my buddy John Stokes. He has lived for years about 20 or 30 feet away from where I saw him Sunday. Recently, the police have made him move from there during the day. I commented about the few things he had with him. He told me the police had taken everything away a week or so before.
One of the things he missed the most was a little AM radio that he had. He said he listened to his favorite program, Coast to Coast, every night on it. He asked me if I could get him another radio with an ear piece. I told him I'd look for one. John had on a light jacket with no shirt on underneath. I was able to come up with a couple of long sleeve shirts, a knit cap and a sweatshirt with a hood. He was doing a lot better when I left.
At this point I had one bag of food left. I decided to prayer-walk down skid row before leaving the area. As I drove around the area a little bit before parking the car I found David sitting in a doorway on 7th. He was cold and hungry and it was starting to rain more consistantly. I parked in front of the police station. The tents had already gone up along the sidewalks (see photo) due to the rain. Most people had found a place to hang out under a covering so there weren't near as many
people out standing around as there usually are. I walked around a couple of blocks that I normally don't go down. One man named Bill, was struggling with his cart and umbrella. I asked him how he was doing and he said, "Miserable." That kind of sums up the general feel of the whole place Sunday. I did give Bill a can of food, although he passed on the cookies due to the condition of his teeth. What is normally, during good weather, a hard enough struggle to survive, is made even more difficult in the wet weather. Even crossing the streets is difficult due to the water in the gutters. Most of the gutters seem to be stopped up so there is a lot of standing water that one has to jump over to cross a street. That's one of the reasons I didn't walk all the way down 6th like I normally do. However, every side street down in the skid row area is home to many people too. It was difficult to watch the people with few possessions trying to get by, in particular, those with shoes that obviously didn't fit. There were also many people with no jackets, maybe just a small blanket draped over their shoulders. On a digital thermometer I had noticed the temperature at 50 degrees.
It was starting to rain a lot more and by the time I got to Cloud Nine Alley it was a real downpour. I parked and hopped over the water in the street/gutter and started down the alley. At the south entrance to the alley I noticed someone new had put up a temporary 'house' complete with plywood and tarps to help keep them dry during the rain. He won't be able to stay there on Monday. It looked like Ray was probably in his 'house' too, but since it was raining so heavily at this point I didn't try to talk to any of the residents. I prayed, I stepped over large pools of water and tried to keep out of the range of the drain pipes that were spewing out a lot of water. One thing that the rain will do, is help wash away the smell of urine which can be overpowering at times around skid row and Cloud Nine alley. I was really soaked by the time I got back to the car. I survived, the folks living on the streets and alleys survived and more importantly, winter is officially over! From the streets of downtown L.A. I can tell you we're all looking forward to springtime! Until next week. John
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Downtown 3/6/2011
Well, it was my first Sunday trip downtown in several months. I arrived there shortly before 1:30 p.m. and didn't leave until after 6 p.m. It was a good trip blessed with good weather and I was able to pray with each person I encountered. It helps to be able to park and get out and actually talk with the folks living on the street. I had been praying for a breakthrough in my prayer-walking on Cloud Nine Alley, but more on that later. My first encounter was with David on Olive St. He was sleeping on the sidewalk next to his shopping cart. It was sunny at this point in the day and he had found a place to get warm while sleeping. It looked like the only clothes he had he was wearing and although he had some water he really needed the food and some socks. I noticed the jeans he was wearing were way too big, but I didn't have any that fit him. I was able to give him a knitted cap and he was very appreciative of that.
Around the corner from David, I almost drove past another man sleeping in a parking lot alone. When I got over to him and asked if he needed some help, he started speaking in Spanish and kept talking thinking I understood him (which I
didn't). I think he said his name was Jaime, but I'm not sure. After giving him some help and praying with him he said, probably about the only words he knew in English, "Oh, thank you." I received it like it was a blessing from a king.
I continued to drive around in that area near Olive St and on a very small side street just west and parallel to Olive I encountered three different men on the same street. Luis was the first man I met. He spoke very little English and when I finished praying with him I noticed he had taken his cap off and had bowed his head. I then thought he might be able to use one of the knitted caps I had so I gave him one of those too. He had nothing except the clothes on his back, the bag of food I had given him and a handful of coins. His words to me as we parted were, "Thank you so much." Just down and across the street about 20 yards was another man sleeping on the sidewalk. His name was Hernando. He looked familiar, but he didn't indicate that he recognized me. Through the car window I asked if he needed some food and he responded by getting up and coming towards the car. I
stopped and got out to meet him. Here was another man who again, had nothing but the clothes on his back. His last words to me were, "Have a happy day." Just past Hernando was another man who was all bundled up and sitting on the sidewalk next to his shopping cart ( a man with a shopping cart is a man with some status on this street!). His name was Reginald. He was 46 years old and from Houston. He told me he had moved out here with his grandmother when he was 4 or 5 years old because,as she explained it, the educational benefits were better. I thought he was going to cry just thinking back about it. I had given him a bag of food and when I asked if he needed some water he told me, "I'd really like some beer." I told him I wasn't set up to go around giving out beer, but I did have some water. He then told me, "I willing to have whatever the Lord will provide." In the bag of food I gave him was a can of Chunky soup with beef in it. He told me it was his favorite soup. When I got back to him with the water he had already opened the can and had started eating. I ended up giving him a couple more cans of food. We actually talked for about fifteen minutes or so and it was really nice since the first four encounters I hadn't really been able to engage in conversation much. When I left Reginald, I told him loved him and God loved him too. He cheerfully replied, "God always loves me." One of the really cool things about the men on this street was that they all acted like they couldn't believe their good fortune that day. It's amazing what a little help at the right time can mean to someone.
Before going over to Cloud Nine Alley I drove over to the other side of town by Alameda St. I ended up seeing John Melon and his friend Dawn on an alley just east of Alameda at Olympic. Both of them had been injured in an alley they were living in on the other side of Alameda. John was doing OK, but Dawn never did stand up while I was there. I hadn't seen John since last fall. At the time he told me he was with Dawn and told me to go drive by where they were living, but when I did she wasn't interested in receiving any help (she didn't know who I was). In fact, I never did see her, but only talked to her through the make-shift 'housing' they had set up at the time. Anyway, John is quite a talker and told me in detail how they had been run over by the trucks going down the alley and that none of the drivers ever stopped or would acknowledge their injuries. It was another example of how homeless people are invisible and have little or no recourse when they are abused. The memorable thing for me about this encounter was that I prayed with them before leaving. Now, John was one of the first people I met when I started making these trips and the first time I met him I offered to pray with him before leaving, but he refused the offer of prayer. One of the last times I saw him, when we parted he told me he loved me and that he would pray for me. What a turnaround, huh? This time I prayed with the three of them and with my arm around John. This is the power of building relationships. Amen!
Now it was time to head over to Cloud Nine Alley. Since I've been going during the week for the last few months, it has seemed a somewhat fruitless endeavor. Deep inside I know that prayer time is never fruitless, but we get impatient when we don't see quick results or progress. During the week the church is not open and the people living in the alley aren't there in the daytime (at least I never see anyone). The only people I see are the people working in the businesses that are on either side of the alley. The alley is their back door. Today I knew the church would probably be open, although it was still a couple of hours before the 6 p.m. service would start. I started prayer-walking up Los Angeles St and then back down the alley. As I got to about the half-way part and just past where the words 'cloud nine' are spray painted I saw a man standing out in the alley. We said hello to each other and started talking. I asked him if he knew Gary who had lived in the parking lot next the church just a little further down the alley. He told me Gary was one of his best friends and he had actually seen him a couple of days before when a film crew shot some footage there in the alley. It turns out his name is Ray and he lived in a literal hole in the brick wall on one side of the alley. The hole is actually a doorway that is not in use. It usually has a pallet or two leaning up against it and is covered with blankets. I have never seen anyone in there. I told Ray that I've been coming down this alley once a week for several months now and one time recently I saw all his stuff laying out in the alley like it was there to dry out. I told me that "Yeah, everything got wet in the rain." I also told him I had left a can of soup on one of the pallets a while back. He was kind of shocked and said, "That was you?" I told him it was and he told me he had heard something and a minute or so later he poked his head out and saw someone (me) walking down at the end of the alley. He then saw the can of soup and put the two together. He told me the can of soup was a god-send at the time. He started telling me a little about himself at this point. He has a family history of Lupus that has claimed the lives of his mother, uncle and sister. He told me he has the disease also, although I didn't see any signs of it at this point. Ray was very talkative and we actually had a lot in common. He is 44 years old. When I told him I prayer-walk this alley once a week he asked if next week he could walk with me! Perhaps, God has placed me here to walk with Ray in the months ahead. If that's the case, I look forward to it. I'll take it one week at a time, hopefully, we'll be able to hook-up again next week. We must have hung out together for 45 minutes or so. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with Ray.
Well, it was now time to head over to skid row. As I turned down 6th St and passed by the police station I saw a KCal 9 TV crew interviewing someone in front of the police staion. I didn't recognize either of them and didn't think much more about it. I drove on down the street and passed by the missions and found a place to park. Usually, I take a bag with some cans of food and start praying and looking for someone I might give the food to. However, I was out of food except for a few packs of cookies so I put about 5 or 6 of them in my pockets and just started walking back up the street. It was still light out, probably a little after 5 p.m. One missionary group had set up a food table across the street from the Midnight Mission and they were just about to finish up serving meals there. I think they do this every Sunday. There was also a large crowd of people already inside the courtyard at the Midnight Mission and it was really noisey there as I walked by. A police car with a couple of policemen was parked a little ways past the entrance because there was an injured man sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk there. They asked him if he was in pain, but I didn't hear his response. They told him that paramedics would be arriving soon. I didn't see where he was injured. I ended up in front of the police station just after the TV crew had pulled away. I thought I would stay there and pray for a few minutes asking for some guidance on who I might pray with. I looked up behind me by the police building and saw a man sitting right near me on the planter retaining wall. About 10 feet behind him was a flag pole and I noticed that the American flag was at half-mast. I asked the man if he had heard about anyone dying that might make them lower the flag. He said he hadn't heard anything and didn't think anyone 'famous' had died and his guess was perhaps a policeman had died. I ended up talking with "Bill" for probably 20 minutes or so. Bill was from Chicago, 63 years old and has been out here for most of the last 20 years. At one point he was looking for his cain which he had hung on the railing to the handicapped ramp (where I had been standing) and got up to go get it. I took the opportunity to hand it to him and went and sat down with him. I asked if he could use a pack of cookies. He told me he had gotten a meal, but no dessert so, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I would like some cookies." Bill had worked for the railroad back in Chicago and had gotten a broken back in a train accident. He told me everyone else in the car he was in was killed, so he considered himself lucky to have survived with just a broken back. He also, in a separate train accident, had been buried for 5 hours under a pile of coal from a box car and ended up with asthma. Despite these misfortunes, he considered himself to be doing OK and he couldn't complain. He first arrived out here 20 years ago and then after a time had left the area. When he came back here 10 years ago the turnover downtown among the homeless was probably 50 percent. Then he left and came back again about 5 years ago and there had been another big turnover of people, until now there were few people left from even just 3 or 4 years ago. Well, I prayed with Bill before leaving, asking for God's protection and healing and for some help for Bill's current situation. As I got up to leave he thanked me for praying for him. Just then a man in a wheelchair was going down the street right in front of us and I said "Hello" to him. He returned the hello and thanked me for "praying with us" (now I hadn't prayed with him). He was wearing a Korean War Veteran's cap and I took the opportunity to thank him for his service for our country. I told him both of my parents were in WWII. He told me he lost two brothers in that war. We talked for just a minute or so as we crossed the next street. He was turning down the side street and I was continuing on down 6th. I helped push him up the handicapped 'driveway' to get on the sidewalk and he again thanked me for praying with them. By now it was after 6 p.m. and it was getting a little cold. The folks down there were putting up their tents for the night and hoping it wouldn't rain. It turns out it did rain later that night. I was kind of bummed out about it. I handed out the rest of the packs of cookies on my way back to the car. All in all, it was a really good trip. I love going on Sundays, I think you can see what a difference it makes in the ability to talk with people. Until next week. --John
Around the corner from David, I almost drove past another man sleeping in a parking lot alone. When I got over to him and asked if he needed some help, he started speaking in Spanish and kept talking thinking I understood him (which I
didn't). I think he said his name was Jaime, but I'm not sure. After giving him some help and praying with him he said, probably about the only words he knew in English, "Oh, thank you." I received it like it was a blessing from a king.
I continued to drive around in that area near Olive St and on a very small side street just west and parallel to Olive I encountered three different men on the same street. Luis was the first man I met. He spoke very little English and when I finished praying with him I noticed he had taken his cap off and had bowed his head. I then thought he might be able to use one of the knitted caps I had so I gave him one of those too. He had nothing except the clothes on his back, the bag of food I had given him and a handful of coins. His words to me as we parted were, "Thank you so much." Just down and across the street about 20 yards was another man sleeping on the sidewalk. His name was Hernando. He looked familiar, but he didn't indicate that he recognized me. Through the car window I asked if he needed some food and he responded by getting up and coming towards the car. I
stopped and got out to meet him. Here was another man who again, had nothing but the clothes on his back. His last words to me were, "Have a happy day." Just past Hernando was another man who was all bundled up and sitting on the sidewalk next to his shopping cart ( a man with a shopping cart is a man with some status on this street!). His name was Reginald. He was 46 years old and from Houston. He told me he had moved out here with his grandmother when he was 4 or 5 years old because,as she explained it, the educational benefits were better. I thought he was going to cry just thinking back about it. I had given him a bag of food and when I asked if he needed some water he told me, "I'd really like some beer." I told him I wasn't set up to go around giving out beer, but I did have some water. He then told me, "I willing to have whatever the Lord will provide." In the bag of food I gave him was a can of Chunky soup with beef in it. He told me it was his favorite soup. When I got back to him with the water he had already opened the can and had started eating. I ended up giving him a couple more cans of food. We actually talked for about fifteen minutes or so and it was really nice since the first four encounters I hadn't really been able to engage in conversation much. When I left Reginald, I told him loved him and God loved him too. He cheerfully replied, "God always loves me." One of the really cool things about the men on this street was that they all acted like they couldn't believe their good fortune that day. It's amazing what a little help at the right time can mean to someone.
Before going over to Cloud Nine Alley I drove over to the other side of town by Alameda St. I ended up seeing John Melon and his friend Dawn on an alley just east of Alameda at Olympic. Both of them had been injured in an alley they were living in on the other side of Alameda. John was doing OK, but Dawn never did stand up while I was there. I hadn't seen John since last fall. At the time he told me he was with Dawn and told me to go drive by where they were living, but when I did she wasn't interested in receiving any help (she didn't know who I was). In fact, I never did see her, but only talked to her through the make-shift 'housing' they had set up at the time. Anyway, John is quite a talker and told me in detail how they had been run over by the trucks going down the alley and that none of the drivers ever stopped or would acknowledge their injuries. It was another example of how homeless people are invisible and have little or no recourse when they are abused. The memorable thing for me about this encounter was that I prayed with them before leaving. Now, John was one of the first people I met when I started making these trips and the first time I met him I offered to pray with him before leaving, but he refused the offer of prayer. One of the last times I saw him, when we parted he told me he loved me and that he would pray for me. What a turnaround, huh? This time I prayed with the three of them and with my arm around John. This is the power of building relationships. Amen!
Now it was time to head over to Cloud Nine Alley. Since I've been going during the week for the last few months, it has seemed a somewhat fruitless endeavor. Deep inside I know that prayer time is never fruitless, but we get impatient when we don't see quick results or progress. During the week the church is not open and the people living in the alley aren't there in the daytime (at least I never see anyone). The only people I see are the people working in the businesses that are on either side of the alley. The alley is their back door. Today I knew the church would probably be open, although it was still a couple of hours before the 6 p.m. service would start. I started prayer-walking up Los Angeles St and then back down the alley. As I got to about the half-way part and just past where the words 'cloud nine' are spray painted I saw a man standing out in the alley. We said hello to each other and started talking. I asked him if he knew Gary who had lived in the parking lot next the church just a little further down the alley. He told me Gary was one of his best friends and he had actually seen him a couple of days before when a film crew shot some footage there in the alley. It turns out his name is Ray and he lived in a literal hole in the brick wall on one side of the alley. The hole is actually a doorway that is not in use. It usually has a pallet or two leaning up against it and is covered with blankets. I have never seen anyone in there. I told Ray that I've been coming down this alley once a week for several months now and one time recently I saw all his stuff laying out in the alley like it was there to dry out. I told me that "Yeah, everything got wet in the rain." I also told him I had left a can of soup on one of the pallets a while back. He was kind of shocked and said, "That was you?" I told him it was and he told me he had heard something and a minute or so later he poked his head out and saw someone (me) walking down at the end of the alley. He then saw the can of soup and put the two together. He told me the can of soup was a god-send at the time. He started telling me a little about himself at this point. He has a family history of Lupus that has claimed the lives of his mother, uncle and sister. He told me he has the disease also, although I didn't see any signs of it at this point. Ray was very talkative and we actually had a lot in common. He is 44 years old. When I told him I prayer-walk this alley once a week he asked if next week he could walk with me! Perhaps, God has placed me here to walk with Ray in the months ahead. If that's the case, I look forward to it. I'll take it one week at a time, hopefully, we'll be able to hook-up again next week. We must have hung out together for 45 minutes or so. I thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with Ray.
Well, it was now time to head over to skid row. As I turned down 6th St and passed by the police station I saw a KCal 9 TV crew interviewing someone in front of the police staion. I didn't recognize either of them and didn't think much more about it. I drove on down the street and passed by the missions and found a place to park. Usually, I take a bag with some cans of food and start praying and looking for someone I might give the food to. However, I was out of food except for a few packs of cookies so I put about 5 or 6 of them in my pockets and just started walking back up the street. It was still light out, probably a little after 5 p.m. One missionary group had set up a food table across the street from the Midnight Mission and they were just about to finish up serving meals there. I think they do this every Sunday. There was also a large crowd of people already inside the courtyard at the Midnight Mission and it was really noisey there as I walked by. A police car with a couple of policemen was parked a little ways past the entrance because there was an injured man sitting cross-legged on the sidewalk there. They asked him if he was in pain, but I didn't hear his response. They told him that paramedics would be arriving soon. I didn't see where he was injured. I ended up in front of the police station just after the TV crew had pulled away. I thought I would stay there and pray for a few minutes asking for some guidance on who I might pray with. I looked up behind me by the police building and saw a man sitting right near me on the planter retaining wall. About 10 feet behind him was a flag pole and I noticed that the American flag was at half-mast. I asked the man if he had heard about anyone dying that might make them lower the flag. He said he hadn't heard anything and didn't think anyone 'famous' had died and his guess was perhaps a policeman had died. I ended up talking with "Bill" for probably 20 minutes or so. Bill was from Chicago, 63 years old and has been out here for most of the last 20 years. At one point he was looking for his cain which he had hung on the railing to the handicapped ramp (where I had been standing) and got up to go get it. I took the opportunity to hand it to him and went and sat down with him. I asked if he could use a pack of cookies. He told me he had gotten a meal, but no dessert so, "Yes, as a matter of fact, I would like some cookies." Bill had worked for the railroad back in Chicago and had gotten a broken back in a train accident. He told me everyone else in the car he was in was killed, so he considered himself lucky to have survived with just a broken back. He also, in a separate train accident, had been buried for 5 hours under a pile of coal from a box car and ended up with asthma. Despite these misfortunes, he considered himself to be doing OK and he couldn't complain. He first arrived out here 20 years ago and then after a time had left the area. When he came back here 10 years ago the turnover downtown among the homeless was probably 50 percent. Then he left and came back again about 5 years ago and there had been another big turnover of people, until now there were few people left from even just 3 or 4 years ago. Well, I prayed with Bill before leaving, asking for God's protection and healing and for some help for Bill's current situation. As I got up to leave he thanked me for praying for him. Just then a man in a wheelchair was going down the street right in front of us and I said "Hello" to him. He returned the hello and thanked me for "praying with us" (now I hadn't prayed with him). He was wearing a Korean War Veteran's cap and I took the opportunity to thank him for his service for our country. I told him both of my parents were in WWII. He told me he lost two brothers in that war. We talked for just a minute or so as we crossed the next street. He was turning down the side street and I was continuing on down 6th. I helped push him up the handicapped 'driveway' to get on the sidewalk and he again thanked me for praying with them. By now it was after 6 p.m. and it was getting a little cold. The folks down there were putting up their tents for the night and hoping it wouldn't rain. It turns out it did rain later that night. I was kind of bummed out about it. I handed out the rest of the packs of cookies on my way back to the car. All in all, it was a really good trip. I love going on Sundays, I think you can see what a difference it makes in the ability to talk with people. Until next week. --John
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