FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Mary Kathryn Campbell
January 6, 2005 (213) 488-9559 ext: 13
PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
LA’s Skid Row Homeless Shelter Residents Deliver Aid to Victims of Asian Disaster

Members of Lamp Community Gather Funds to Help Tsunami Victims

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 6, 2005—A rousing spirit of giving prompted formerly homeless members of Skid Row’s Lamp Community to raise over $500 in two days to give to tsunami victims.

Formerly homeless adults with mental illness who live at Lamp Community’s nine sites collected the cash, hoping to rush the aid as quickly as possible to the people who desperately need it.

“When these poor people were hit, we citizens of the world were hit. I’m glad that everyone is responding now. We are all citizens of the world and are responsible for helping each other in any way we can,” said one formerly homeless individual, Linn S.

Familiar with the long-term battles of homelessness and poverty, Linn S. added, “We also have to remember that these victims need to recover over years and years and that we can’t just abandon them. We need to support them for years to come.”

“Lamp Community helps people who’ve been hit hard in their own right by serious mental illness, crime, poverty, drug abuse and other societal problems,” said John Best, Director of Housing for Lamp Community. “Some of our members’ stories of their own survival and loss are so sad themselves; you would think they’d never take time to worry about other people. But the outpouring of emotion and concern for victims of this disaster halfway around the world is a testament to human resilience.”

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Lamp Community aims to give this donation to Doctors Without Borders, an organization currently sending nearly 60 international aid workers and 200 tons of relief materials to affected areas.

Although the organization has asked that the tsunami relief giving be curtailed for now, Lamp Community Executive Director, Mollie Lowery said, “We want to give where we think this little amount might make the most difference. Doctors Without Borders can use the money for people all over the world: Sudan, Latin America or those suffering in Asia right now.”

Current statistics indicate that there are more than 84,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County. More than 10,000 people—nearly the population of Malibu—are living on the streets of Skid Row. An estimated 25,000 of L.A.’s homeless live with schizophrenia, depression, or other serious forms of mental illness.


Founded in 1985, Lamp Community is a nonprofit organization providing housing,
health recovery, and job training to homeless men and women with serious mental illness. Lamp Community operates nine facilities that serve more than 4,000 individuals each year. Members can enter into comprehensive “wrap-around” services at Lamp Community to reclaim and rebuild their lives. For more information, visit www.lampcommunity.org

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Photo Caption: Linn S., adds to the collection taken up by formerly homeless members of Lamp Community to aid the victims of last month’s earthquake and tsunami
Photo Credit: MK Campbell