Group honors those who got off streets
After her dying sister shot herself in the head six years ago, Lynda Ross was briefly taken into custody as a suspect and released. But Ross, who suffers from severe depression and had just moved to Los Angeles six weeks earlier, had nowhere to go and wound up on the streets.
Today, things are different for Ross. She was one of 23 former homeless people honored Friday at the eighth annual Westside Shelter and Hunger Coalition “Celebrating Success” breakfast. The coalition is made up of 30 area groups dedicated to helping homeless people rebuild their lives.
“We experience homeless people,” said Mayor Richard Bloom, who added that City Hall provides an array of social services to the homeless and pointed to a new shelter recently approved by the City Council. “We experience the difficult circumstances under which people have to live. And we’ve decided we want to do something about it.”
Nearly 500 people gathered for the buffet breakfast of quiche and French toast at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel downtown to pay tribute to the agencies and providers of social services, and to recognize this year’s honorees. Awards were given for overcoming multiple barriers, giving back to the community, determination to succeed and other achievements.
Among the recipients was Winston Reid, who was honored for his determination to succeed. In his speech, Reid, an alcoholic, said he spent more than 10 years on the streets of Santa Monica, sleeping on the beach and depending on a variety of free services to keep him alive.
But after a violent alcohol seizure three years ago, Reid decided it was time to rethink his lifestyle. He credited the Ocean Park Community Center’s Access Center, a provider of free services for the homeless, with helping him turn his life around and move into his own apartment.
“I’m living, not just surviving,” said Reid, who announced he’s been sober for 1,084 days. Reid added that he now hopes to finish college and get a full-time job.
That’s something that Ross has already accomplished. After four years going in and out of welfare motels, sleeping in bushes and under bridges, and struggling with a brief addiction to crack cocaine, Ross found help through OPCC, the Venice Family Clinic and the Edelman Westside Mental Health Center.
She now lives in a Second Street apartment and has a full-time job working as a counselor for disabled people.
“There are so many people out there to thank,” Ross said. “I see a student out there that just received an award that I helped. I see a lot of people that helped me and put up with me...
“Sometimes I think that the more difficult a life is, the more the human spirit can shine.”
Friday’s event concluded with a song from the eight-man New Directions Choir called “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now.”
“Ain’t no stopping us now, we’re on the move and we’ve really, really got the groove,” the choir sang.
“And if you’ve ever been held down before, I know you’ll refuse to be held down anymore.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 27, 2003. Read the original PDF.