Some of  my other properties – while I’m not working w/the homeless, these are some other focus areas of mine.

SEO Company Nashville, TN   Keeira Lyn Ford Country Singer  Tareyah   Kimbreesha   Ron Hall 

United Steps Heal With Me Event Upcoming:

Purpose: To provide homeless persons with natural health services.

Time:  Saturday, January 28th, 10am to 3pm.

Place: Yahoo Center, 2500 Broadway Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404.

While I am no longer in Santa Monica, I am still a part of United Steps and hope you’ll come out and support this amazing event!

It’s been an incredible adventure out in Santa Monica California. This trip was by far, the longest, 24 days total. I don’t have family in Santa Monica – only new friends,  and I stay in a motel in Marina Del Rey, The Jolly Roger Hotel (the best staff ever by the way, if you stay in Marina Del Rey, you should try this place),  so it’s a crazy thing to do over Christmas, to say the least – flying from Tennessee to California each year.   I am thankful to all of you for your support, whether it was financial, covering things in the community at home, or just by reading. It took so many people to make it possible for us to do this. I also thank Dr. Brian Miller, PhD., for running my open home, Camp Greenwood, while I was away and keeping an eye on things in Nashville for me.

Working from a coffee shop in Santa Monica on my final day, sitting at "Table 17".

I was also running my internet web business remotely from Santa Monica Place  and other locations each day. It was a challenge to do all 3, and not without some bumps in the road, but it worked amazingly well in it’s first execution. Nothing’s perfect but it was my first year being self employed, running my own business, and doing this work with the homeless.

Working with the homeless in this was has only convicted me more that the cycle of homelessness can be reversed through encouragement, motivation, and dignity that can be conveyed through engagement, connection, and friendship. It’s amazing what a 5 minute conversation with someone who’s homeless can lead to.

During this time, a lot of my viewpoints were challenged, especially towards the homeless. I also learned a lot about my attitude in general – last year I know I let some of my own views affect my volunteer time at OPCC, this time I really tried to reign those in and volunteer effectively. I also volunteered in an area I was least comfortable –  ”sign-ins” and did it every day I was there. I was one of the first faces folk saw.  It was challenging for me because I wasn’t hiding in the back making sandwiches, I was on the front line, and it was good to finally overcome that barrier.

Jason and me: A United Steps Friendship

As for the work with United Steps, it is on-going. I definately also shifted me out of my comfort zone, especially helping run the “Heal with Me” event.  Being able to help offer these healing services to the homeless – such as massages and chiropractic care – was an amazing experience.  ”Bowl with Me” and “Skate With Me” were also both incredible experiences as well.

“Heal with Me”, “Bowl with Me”, and “Skate with Me” are all wonderful  And it’s far from over as a whole, I am doing what I can via remote to continue the candidate search for the job openings as well as some other remote work.

I am excited for the “Say Hello 2012″ campaign upcoming from United Steps. I truly believe it will rank up there with “Heal with Me”, “Bowl with Me”, and “Skate with Me”. I also had the chance to work with a homeless man named Jason. I spent much time with him, one on one. I believe I’ve made a new friend.

Homeless Kids from "Skate with Me" - one of many groups we came to serve over Christmas in Santa Monica for "Santa Monica Christmas"

“Heal with Me”, “Bowl with Me”, and “Skate with Me” events continue, and I will continue to post them here. We will continue the work from Nashville TN, doing what we can to support United Steps and OPCC.  Last year we sent a box of clothes to OPCC upon our return and we will continue to find different ways to support them from a far as well.

I can only hope what we did together – you and I – made a difference.  I believe both in the need for immediate services as well as the idea that the cycle of homelessness can be reversed.  It was an amazing adventure, and I can’t wait to do it again next year.  I can’t thank you all enough for all your support during this 24 day adventure.

The holidays are an important time to share with the homeless and I am glad you opened your hearts and resources to help share yours with the homeless. I appreciate you helping to send me on this incredible mission. It’s my hope we can do it again some day.  The support from home meant a great deal to me and the homeless we served. But there was also some great support in Santa Monica, from folks who didn’t even know that by the simple act of  ”doing their job”, were critical to helping the homeless over Christmas. From the crews of Starbucks, Santa Monica Place, and Stefanos Pizza, I couldn’t have done this service without them.

The Best Starbucks Crew Ever: 308 Wilshire Blvd

I have to thank Jake at Santa Monica Place for providing an amazing environment for me to work in for 4 hours a day – staying in regular communication with me during a busy holiday season.

I must also thank Sekoia and the evening crew at the 308 Wilshire Blvd Santa Monica Starbucks for helping me during the last hour of each work day – each day I relocated during hour #5 to do some administrative work. The service I receieved from Sekoia and the rest of the evening crew shift at this Starbucks location was nothing short of sensational. I had some unusual things happen there.

One night I even had to glue part of my laptop back together after having dropped it and was able to sit down at this Starbucks, break out the Krazy Glue and reassemble part of the laptop while sipping a Tazo Tea. This Starbucks crew is amazing, and I watched them deal with unending lines of customers over the Christmas season – they are truly the best of the best Starbucks has to offer.

I must also thank  Stefano’s Pizza for keeping me “Diet Coke’d”  up each afternoon at the  Santa Monica Place Food Court Location.  These 3 businesses were vital to the success of our mission here in Santa Monica in 2011.

It’s my hope that we served the homeless well over Christmas and New Years, and that we did some form of good. Time will tell, it always does.

As for Santa Monica, see you in 2012.

ron@ronhall.org or http://www.facebook.com/careycat - be my friend!

Skate With Me is returning to the Ice at Santa Monica on Thursday January 12th  from 3-6pm! Come out and Join us!

Take a United Step onto the ice skating rink and join homeless children and families as we celebrate the magic of the holidays together!!

A minimum donation of just $15.00, will sponsor one child on this very special day – sponsorship includes skate rental, food, transportation, and an unforgettable experience for a child in need during the holidays.

If you would like to make a donation of $15.00 or more, please click on this link: http://www.unitedsteps.org/donate
Location:
Ice at Santa Monica
1324 5th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401

View Larger Map

Skate With Me — Thursday, January 12 at 3:00pm at ICE at Santa Monica.

I am sitting at the LAX. It’s been a good trip, day 24 now.  I can look back and be satisfied with the work we accomplished. I can also say that I came to some personal changes and conclusions as well about my own life.

Tomorrow: SMC Recap and Final Thoughts

…It’s been a good day here. It’s my last full day and I’ve taken the time to hang with Manny Urrego, Dan Ireland, and Nicole Montano. All is well.  And yet I can’t help wonder what adventures are ahead.  Half way out of the dark…

Today I spent some time with Charles Hill of United Steps. He was generous enough to let me use his car while he went out of town for a day. It’s been a day of winding down and preparing to come home. And it’s time.

While I had the car, I went to the Westfield Mall – in Culver City, as well as two comic book stores and Baby Janes Hollywood – a collectible store. It was a good day just to breathe and take a break.

I picked up a few trinkets today. A local Blockbuster was closing, so I got some “movie promotional cards”. They were 5/$1.00, I picked 80 of them for me and for friends back in Nashville. The cashier got tired of keying in 5/$1.00 one at a time and just gave me the bundle for $5. That was kind of cool.

I had a great dinner with some friends I’ve met at First Presbyterian, Santa Monica. It’s good to see them every year. We enjoyed dinner at a Sushi restaurant. They have blessed me in many ways. One more day and then it’s back to the Nashville. What a Santa Monica Christmas this has been!

Today was the last day of Santa Monica Christmas. It’s been a good run and a good time. Much of today was wrap up work.

We started at OPCC, helping with the teen outreach, helping get folks signed in. I shifted over to the grocery program where I helped load up bags of groceries for housed folks. It’s great that they help housed folk.

I continued at Santa Monica Place where I booted up the computer and prepared the final round of data for United Steps – almost 100 job candidates resumes reviewed and backed up, plus contact lists compiled from two of the outreach volunteers.  I wanted to make sure that I didn’t leave any loose ends data-wise. I will be continuing to assist w/the recruitment effort from remote in Nashville as well as some other miscellaneous things that I know I can do from a far.

And with that ended the official volunteer run of Santa Monica Christmas 2011. We will do a recap and look back over the weekend.

Here is the video from the United Steps “Skate With Me” event. Please give it a watch, it’s a good summary of what we are doing out here.

Oregon Ducks Fans on the Pier!

WOW! I am sitting in the Santa Monica Place Food Court, which has been transformed into one giant sports bar complete with big HD TV’s and without the hassle of waiting for seating and food! The Food Court is bustling with activity – and I’ve NEVER seen this many people at Santa Monica Place!

Santa Monica Place’s complementary Wifi is allowing me to blog and to fix my blackberry software on my laptop. The Jolly Roger Hotel that I stay at doesn’t have WiFi in the room.

Even today as Santa Monica is FILLED with Oregon Ducks Rose Bowl Attendees and fans, this mall never ceases to amaze me in terms of how coordinated and smoothly it runs.  As a semi-regular, I feel just as comfortable today with all these visitors as I do on a weekday afternoon.

New Years Day kicked off with a few episodes of  ”The Twilight Zone” from my hotel room, as I got ready for church. I hopped on the Santa Monica 3 from Marina Del Rey and headed into First Presbyterian Santa Monica – enjoying a New Years Day Worship Service and was challenged to continue to look for ways I can change my life to help serve others.

After that challenging message, I wanted to kick back and relax.  I enjoyed some quality window shopping time at Barnes and Nobles, and catching up with some friends. From there, I felt beach time coming on, so I headed to Santa Monica Beach where I enjoyed some time in the water, read some short stories, laid on the beach, and relaxed. It’s important when doing a trip like this to take care of one’s self in addition to the homeless and the agencies that serve them.

As expensive as it can be, Bubba Gumps Shrimp Factory was something I never did during the 6 years I lived in New York City, but having come here, I’ve found the Clam Chowder irresistable.  I yearned for a bowl of Clam Chowder today to celebrate New Years. It was PACKED there with all the DUCKS fans but I managed to get a bar seat and out came the Chowd

But there is work to do, and even though today is a much needed rest from the direct work with the homeless and the organizations, there is some administration I need to do.

To finish the day, I’ve headed to Santa Monica Place.  I am doing some catch up for Santa Monica Christmas. I received a call from one of the staff of the New Image Homeless Shelter Corporate asking how yesterday’s “Heal With Me” event went. I advised him that the homeless served, practicioners, and volunteers all seemed happy and felt the event went well. I went out last night to the practicioners New Years Party and expressed my appreciation for their donation of services.

During “Heal With Me”, the United Steps President Charles Hill was ill and unable to make most of the event, so I filled in. With it not being my organization, I gave it my best shot to make sure volunteers, New Image Shelter, and practicioners were all satisfied w/the event and that operationally everything went well.

It was very challenging to do this, Charles helped me before the event started but once “on the ground”  at start time,  it had it’s moments, but I got the following voice mail last night which was really encouraging :

“I really really appreciate today…the fact of the matter was, without even me being at most of the event, I can conclude it went smoother than the last Heal With Me event, so it was very good, that you basically took over, and handled the entire United Steps event for me, while I was out, that’s the first time that I ever missed a united steps event, obiviosly, so I really appreciate that, that’s really big…I hope that everything turned good and you feel like it was worth your time, your involvement, and your participation.” – Charles Hill, President, United Steps.

As I sit here in Santa Monica Place, which is part of my “happy place” (Santa Monica Beach is the other half of my “happy place”), I can say that the voice mail definitely encourages me in the work being done here and I am hopeful that what I’m doing here can play some small part in reversing the cycle of homelessness as well as alleviating some of the pain associated with it through my volunteer hours at OPCC.