Don Meaders may be our newest board member – having served only since July – but his involvement with Friends In Deed goes back several years to his and his wife’s generous support of our Jazz on the Green events. He also knows our Board President Emeritus, Pam Marx, through First United Methodist Church, Pasadena […]
Don’s Story – Asking the Difficult Questions Read More »
Lily is one of our Master of Social Work (MSW) interns at Friends In Deed. The internship program is proving to be a very positive experience for everyone involved – Friends In Deed and our clients benefit greatly from the extra skilled help in our programs, and our interns get valuable experience in the field.
Lily’s Story – A Bigger Toolkit Read More »
Back in 2018, Friends In Deed’s Street Outreach and Housing team was a fledgling program with only two employees. Friends In Deed House on Washington Boulevard was already bursting at the seams, so we rented a new office space on Lake Avenue. The tiny team painted the new open-plan office themselves, in FID green, and
The Street Outreach Story – Ambitious Dreams Read More »
William’s story with Friends In Deed began back in 1999 when he was working at Grandview Foundation as a drug and alcohol counselor. One of his coworkers was an overnight staffer at Friends In Deed’s Bad Weather Shelter. He invited William to join the BWS staff – and so William, already working full time at
William’s Story – A Habit of Community Service Read More »
An urgent call came through to the Street Outreach and Housing team from the Food Pantry. A deaf young man had come in, clearly needing help, but unable to communicate his needs. As it happened, two team members were out on the road and swung by the pantry. They began communicating with the
A Crisis Intervention Story – Finding Ways to Communicate Read More »
Lee had been in sober living for a year, but he timed out of the program without having found a place to live, and he ended up back on the streets, mostly living in his car in safe parking facilities. The Friends In Deed Street Outreach and Housing team became involved, and worked with Lee
Lee’s Story – Continuing Recovery Read More »
Dan has a PhD – and ADHD. He’s extremely intelligent, but many of the executive function tasks other people take for granted – paying bills, taking out the trash, cleaning the house – are often beyond him. In the second of our series of fictionalized accounts of the barriers people experience to getting housing, we’ll
Barriers to Housing – Dan’s Story Read More »
Transitioning someone into housing is never as simple as just handing them the keys – and the barriers our clients face are as varied as the people themselves. Here, we begin a new series of fictionalized accounts that illustrate some of the very real challenges our clients have to overcome in order to get a
Barriers to Housing – Bella’s Story Read More »
What do women experiencing homelessness need most? This was a question posed by a group of women from Pasadena churches – the “Women’s Issue Committee” – in 2005. They spent many months researching the question, but didn’t let things rest there: they put their findings into practice by opening The Women’s Room at Friends In
The TWR Story – The “Persisterhood” Read More »
Jenny was having a run of bad luck – her husband’s shop had burned down, and the family was short of cash. Then she had a call from a former coworker, Lindsey, who had heard that Jenny was looking for some extra work. She offered Jenny a few hours per week at The Women’s Room
Jenny’s Story – Always Finding a Little Extra Read More »
