Okay...it would take too long to go into things, so here's the skinny:
We moved to LA in 2022. Yes, said goodbye to Brooklyn after nearly 20 yrs and drove out to Hollywood. Actual Hollywood. We live in the Hollywood Dell just south of the Hollywood Hills.
It's now January 2024 and OMG we're finally settling down enough to begin reporting on our efforts out West. The homeless situation here is pretty dire. Around the corner we have 10 people living in tents under the 101, about 6 people living in tents on Franklin, and homeless folks walking up and down the block each day. Downtown Hollywood is filled with folks sleeping on the streets, and it's like this almost everywhere (except Beverly Hills, for some reason). Today I dragged the garbage out for collection and two people stopped by to pick through things for bags and aluminum cans. I brought them a couple drinks and let them know they're welcome to come by each Thursday, and just asked if they wouldn't mind not leaving stuff in the road. They were kind and thankful. They're my neighbors.
Wendy and I try to feed people when we can, bringing back extra Gatorades and food from CVS on our walks, or if we make a big meal, like a turkey, we make doggy bags and drive around and hand them out.
We're also very lucky to have incredible neighbors like Al and Dianne across the street, who got us involved in building gingerbread houses for poor families, and wrapping gifts, for the holidays.
We now have a Sunday night gig of helping feed the homeless around this part of town, roughly 200 people last weekend, in an open-air soup kitchen by the 101 off Gower. We serve them an incredible amount of donated food (honestly, delicious warm food and fruits and drinks) and hand out socks and condoms, etc.
There's more to be done but we're back on a schedule, a rhythm, and one that will extend beyond the winter months.
Wendy is giving platelets too.
This is just an update, to say we're back to being able to continue our service, in a brand new community. I think we're going to keep the name Brooklyn Artists Helping for now, because we're still Brooklynites at heart, but maybe the 'B' will come to stand for something else in the future. But hey, we've also got a friend staying on in our home as she tries to make it out here as a director, and she's a former Brooklynite too, so right now we're just out here representin' and trying to figure out what life in La-La Land looks like.
Hope everyone is staying warm.