Dear Friend,

Fiona had been sharing a house with a friend and helping her run her business. But they also had two other roommates, and Fiona found her things started to go missing. After confronting the roommates, Fiona says, “things got weird” and the relationships started to break down. Eventually it got so bad that Fiona lost her job and her accommodation all at the same time.

Fiona first heard about Friends In Deed when she was getting a meal at one of Pasadena’s local churches. The pastor announced the details of our Bad Weather Supplies program, including the information that motel vouchers would be available. Fiona says it was perfectly timed, as she was able to get shelter during some of the wettest weather of the winter.

Then, at the motel, the Friends In Deed staff member doing Fiona’s intake told her about The Women’s Room (TWR). Fiona says her immediate response was “Oh my gosh, I can’t believe this!” She has used TWR extensively since, for showers, laundry, and food.

Friends In Deed assigned a case manager to Fiona, but then she decided to try living with her grandmother. However, Fiona’s abusive father was also living there, and he reverted to his old patterns of behavior. Fiona left the house and started riding the trains and buses at night for safety. She called Friends In Deed and asked to be reconnected with her case manager. 

After that, things moved fast. We were able to get Fiona a place in a shared room in Long Beach - somewhere where she feels safe and can get enough sleep. She told us how grateful she is to no longer have to carry all her belongings with her, and how she is now looking forward to getting back into the workplace.

On another note, last weekend brought Hurricane Hilary to our area, with continual rain throughout Sunday and into Monday. I am grateful to members of our staff, who jumped into action, with other street outreach teams, went out onto the streets and assisted many people into the emergency shelter that the city set up. It was a wonderful collaboration between agencies and city officials, ensuring that our most vulnerable neighbors had a warm, safe and dry place to be during the worst of the storm. 

Staff members Lindsey and William at the Villa Parke emergency shelter.

Staff members Tish and Ryan passing out supplies and informing individuals of emergency shelters.

Finally, I am excited to be joining Neighborhood UU Church this Sunday to share about FID, and receive their “Pass the Plate” offering to benefit our work. I hope to join as many congregations as I can in the coming months, so if your community is interested in having me (tell the pastor I can give the sermon!) please let me know!

Blessings and have a lovely weekend,

Rabbi Joshua

P.S. You should have received the Save the Date email for our awesome fundraiser, Stories from the Street, coming up on October 14th. Please consider being a sponsor, and start telling your family and friends!

We can only operate with your help!

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Friends In Deed is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. We embrace and celebrate the spectrum of our employees’, volunteers’, and clients’ ages, color, ability or disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, neurodiversity, and other characteristics that make our employees, volunteers, and clients unique.