See James journey, from addiction to reconnection to restoration - Stories from Skid Row

Like many of our men, James had been totally devastated by addiction until he decided to enter into our one-year intense recovery program. "Being at the Mission, I liked their aspect of recovery because, without recovery, I wouldn't have been able to escape addiction or homelessness. I had to find the root of my problems. I had a lot of character defects, anger, depression anxiety, and I had to get help and work on those. I heard about this forgiveness that God's here for sinners like I was, and now I genuinely believe that I'm forgiven. All the hope that was lost is being regained again; it's a new beginning, and I'm reconnecting with my father, my grandparents, my two loving kids, and my spouse. She's been my stronghold through life these last 14 years. Union Rescue Mission even provided a job for me at their warehouse." James As long as we don't deal with addiction and mental health issues, homelessness will keep exploding at an exponential rate. Everybody's wondering why the billions of dollars poured into California homelessness by government officials in the last few years is having little to no impact. Homelessness has increased 47% on the street and 31% percent overall. This is because they do not have a recovery mindset. They continue to push "Harm reduction" principles that ignore addiction and mental health issues. Providing someone with a temporary place to stay without giving them tools or a path to recovery is not the answer. These precious souls will only continue to lose their place in life and fall into a life of living on the streets. Everything that we utilize every day at Union Rescue Mission comes from our warehouse. We have pallets of water, clothing, diapers, furniture, tons of food, Christmas toys for our Christmas store; everything we receive at the warehouse does not come from our government. It comes from private corporations and private individuals like you. We are thankful that James chose to come to Union Rescue Mission. And we are grateful to you as we could not do this life-changing work without you.