client stories

Union Station Homeless Services helped over 1,700 people last year find a home and begin rebuilding their lives.
These are some of their stories of strength and resilience.

Russ

Russ calls his time with Union Station as the “Class of the fall 1990.”  While he lived at the Adult Center on Raymond, he worked with the staff to reevaluate his lifestyle. He found hope, direction and opportunity. He also made a life-long friendship with Staff member Liz Shelby. Russ has been sober for over 33 years and Liz calls him every year on his sobriety birthday.

I am glad to witness for Union Station Homeless Services, so many people have helped me retrieve my life from a downward spiral. I want the staff to know their efforts have had a beneficial effect on my life.”

Russ now lives in Idaho with a perfect view of the Teton Mountains from his front porch. He is the proud adopted grandfather for several local families.

Keith

Keith has a master’s degree in clinical psychology and worked in the mental health field. His piece, “Skin Color in the Development of Identity”, was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). Keith says his life fell apart due to bad decisions and substance use. He lived in a park and moved around the city, ending up in a tent on the center strip of Huntington Boulevard in El Sereno, known as “the island.” Life on the island was a daily struggle with worries about where to go to the bathroom, shower, and wash up. Thanks to Project Homekey, Keith and about 100 other individuals moved off the island and into two hotels on the boulevard. He now has a room and bathroom of his own.

Diamond

For 16 years, Diamond was a Showgirl in the Jubilee show. She invested her money into a home and two small businesses. When her husband died, she learned that he hadn’t paid his bills and she lost all of her properties. Diamond moved to LA to start fresh with a job in a medical office. Then she had a stroke and lost eyesight in one eye. When she left the hospital, she ended up on Skid Row. With the outbreak of COVID, she moved into a Project Roomkey motel that had mold and other issues, resulting in her being hospitalized again. The care she received from the hospital staff motivated her to return to nursing. She was the fourth resident to move into the Project Homekey in El Monte and has been studying for her exams in May.

john

John grew up in Northern California. He did well in school and earned a master’s in social psychology from Stanford University. For the next 30 years he had great jobs at JPL/NASA, USC and Cal State LA. Then he suffered a stroke which led to speech and memory loss. John could not continue working in his profession. Soon he could not afford his monthly condo rental and was evicted. For the next six years, he lived in a field with only a mattress and a pillow as a bed. After a really bad time on the streets, he came to Centennial Place. With Union Station, John is working restoring his health and life.

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