Homeless Teenagers Living On LA's Skid Row | Union Rescue Mission

[Music] you guys I'm downstairs for it so I can't help but wonder how did this happen to us my home is an abusive she's not an alcoholic she's never done drugs [Music] and sometimes that's the most difficult thing to deal with realizing that there are times when your life isn't in your hands my name is Michele Franza and 17 years old it's really hard not having your own home Thanks even something as little as making a midnight snack it becomes a privilege you don't have anymore I'm the oldest of my family there's my mom and there's me my brother Samuel who is 16 my sister Deborah who's 15 my sister Susan who is 12 and then my brother Vince a who is 10 we all stay at the Union rescue mission and run room together my family and I were trying to escape an injury situation so we left the home that we were in there's so many different circumstances that can cause homelessness you really can't stereotype it you really count [Music] Skid Row is the area surrounding the rescue mission the first couple of times you see it it's kind of horrifying the area around here is not safe we walk our younger son links to the bus stop because you're safe in a bigger group so that's what we do Skid Row is no place for families for children that's violent you can't even walk around the block without breathing marijuana smell and the in the air drugs being sold on the sidewalks worse than that there are over 300 registered sex offenders in just a few block area surrounding Union rescue mission [Music] why am I stuck here like this why am i homeless why why sometimes it was really difficult to deal with those thoughts but I really feel that no matter what God will take care of me my family we we all had goals in life and we're talking about how you know our plans on how to get out of here am I really gonna give up just because I feel like I've lost everything and I really have it I still have my family and that's more than I could ask for we know the streets of Skid Row are no place for women and children that's why we work very quickly to get them out to a safe place like hope gardens or our new project restart at Alsace in orange and we're working on another project at 83rd and Broadway so you can quickly get families out of this dangerous area that surrounds the mission inside the mission is safe and we work very hard to have high security to keep our kids protected sometimes when I just feel like I'm kind of overwhelmed by my emotions I go and I play the piano in the office down the hall it just it makes everything better this phase of homelessness will pass and one day I know that I'm gonna be the one helping people here like the people here have helped me in my family I'm gonna be the one giving out the helping hand you you you you

Channel: Union Rescue Mission

Views: 257,756

Rating: 4.8418517 out of 5

Keywords: homelessness, Homeless, Skid Row, downtown Los Angeles, children, teens, Love, Union Rescue Mission, Urm, Help, Homeless Shelters, Christianity, LA, christ, jesus, God, nonprofit, skidrow, serve, donate, california, poor, addiction, lost, volunteer, community, Charity, Outreach, stories, documentary, alcoholism, abuse, addict, transformation, intervention, prayer, freedom, peace, hope, families, Stories From Skid Row, Homeless Teenagers living on La's Skid Row, Volunteering (Job Title)

Id: 2rUpe-bjtl4

Length: 5min 8sec (308 seconds)

Published: Thu May 26 2011