Midnight Mission - Food Distribution Center - Los Angeles, California

Abel M.

Midnight Mission is a great place for homeless people. When I was going through tough times, I would go to church there and have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Thank you for the meals.

Crystal S.

Same food every day but at least it's 3 hot meals and a place too sleep at every night! 🙂 Be sure too bring your own blanket though; cuz their isn't any beds! However, there's a floor [inside or outside (depending on staff).]

Karen B.

This location is in a much needed area. The staff was great.

Marilyn L.

They've been doing good for over 100 years and I hope they will continue to survive and thrive for many more. We make sack lunches once a month for them to distribute to the many needy outside their door.

J M.

Closed on weekends and must bring a sleeping bag no resources or social workers. First come first serve

Robert L.

This is based strictly on the volunteer experience and not on the Mission, its goals, or the people it serves.

I arrived as instructed 15 minutes prior to my start (for a covid test-great idea). The staff there at check in were awesome.

Then, once I entered, it was mostly ad hoc, with it honestly feeling like every day, it’s just meant to be random even though they serve three meals three times a day (which is impressive).

There’s though no real guidance of what to do either in the preparation or in the actual process of serving meals.

The ladies in the kitchen went about their business, and I with beyond limited Spanish worked with the supervisor to come up with things for me to do. She seemed almost reluctant to tell me to do things (could be because I am older). But eventually she caught on, and I then could start working on stuff (e.g. laying out strips of bacon in pans to be cooked, sorting potatoes and slicing off questionable parts, stocking beverages).

Where things went downhill for me was when people started coming in for breakfast, two other volunteers and I took our places on the serving line. Literally no one briefed us on does or don’ts, on where more XYZ of the food we would need replenished, and so on.

That would so not be a problem if that meant we had leeway to thus work and decide on our own. It’s an intense 90 minutes of compiling and serving, the three of us. I will give a shout out to the other volunteers who were so kind and welcoming to the people in line.

Now the turn for the worse: I understand dealing with huge crowds including those who might have fentanyl addiction or who are feeling withdrawals can be so taxing and stressful, but when the Mission Security guards started dehumanizing the very people being served, I was beyond disgusted, and decided I did not want to be a part of the process.

Incidents (repeated too often) such as these: one person just wanted oatmeal instead of it and all the other offerings (includes three sandwiches, strawberries, and a bakery good). The person to my left, she said “Sure.” But the hovering security guard, and I quote, spewed out “Don’t give these motherfu$&#% a choice. They don’t deserve anything.” Or a few moments later, “God€£#, why don’t you take a shower. I can’t stand …”

Then, as we tried to keep up the pace while running around trying to find more sandwiches, or oatmeal, or.., he turned his wrath more on us.

I have volunteered with many other organizations for similar events, and for example, they had me processing potatoes for lunch later that day rather than inspecting and sorting strawberries needed for breakfast (good from bad). This created a choke point in the line.

The volunteers we took the abuse, but when the guard turned on these people already deeply down on their luck, that was game over for me. I finished my shift and will reach out to other organizations nearby who provide similar services.

Jay T.

Voted the cleanest and safest mission in skid row. Plenty of resources and family oriented.

Jeannette L.

Stoner park is a really good park love it