The Orphaned Earring

A room filled of people with the desire to serve other are scattered around the room. On one side youthful girls and guys that probably never been in a situation like this before impacted by the conditions these people live in and horrified by the stories that accompany the smell and sites but yet holding back their own emotions to instead offer hope through a sincere smile to all.

Skid Row, they call this place.

A special group of people is at this place providing a service that many of us take for granted: haircuts and manicures. With all their tools lined-up on the counter top of what probably is also used for serving meals. They’ve transformed this room into a barbershop and beauty salon. With every snip and every trim they give back hope and sense of humanity, give them some dignity to the homeless.

I like to volunteer because I’m grateful for my own blessings and get to pick and choose where to go, but I learned that groomers faithfully come once a month to provide this service.

These kinds of volunteers really touch my heart. The dedication their show is the same dedication they would show with paying customers. It’s obvious! They lean in, check from all angles to make sure that each haircut is perfect.

Innocently a girl comes over to one of the barber-volunteers and asks if a case of water behind her were for the inmates. Immediately everyone turns to look at her, smile and you hear a voice say, “You mean if the water is for our clients?”

I don’t blame the girl for the mistake, most people are under the impression that people living at Skid Row are evil and probably deserve to be in jail but each case is so different, we don’t know all the individual reasons as to why those people live there.  But one thing is clear, they are clients NOT inmates.

I visited the Jonah Project with a group of volunteers, a non-profit, non-denominational Christian organization dedicated to helping the homeless community on the streets of Skid Row in Los Angeles. I was so surprised to learn that 85% of the women living in skid row are rapped at least 3 times a week and nothing is being done about it. The city allows them to pitch a tent from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am, time when skid row turns into an even darker place.

What can I do for them? I feel so useless, I don’t have money, I don’t have shelter to provide and I don’t have professional skills to help. Where do the children of Skid Row live? Where are their children? Are they perhaps now orphans and on the path that will bring right back to the same fate as their parents?

I’m so limited, there’s not much I can do but show love, compassion and friendship while I visit.  Although this was a tough visit, I feel with renewed energy to keep working for the causes I love and hopefully change the course of a child’s life that was destined to his own Skid Row.  

An extremely talented young lady, victim of a broken system that has led to her live in Skid Row. She taught my friend Eva how to play a few tunes on the piano.