LA Mission makes Good Friday a day to serve people in need

The Los Angeles Mission served 3,000 meals today to homeless people and others in need on Skid Row. The meals were part of the Mission’s annual Good Friday Easter Event.

Hundreds of people had been in line for hours by the time Mission president Herb Smith began the opening blessing. Smith said the need for the Mission’s services continues to grow.

"We’re up 10 percent this year over last year — which was up 10 percent over the year before, " Smith said. "We’re kind of tracking the jobless issues in the economy"

On the same day the U.S. Labor Department said the economy created jobs in March, the Los Angeles Mission said a record jobless rate was threatening Los Angeles and Skid Row. Willie Mays, 56, said he was the proof.

"I just got laid off from my job two days — no, two weeks ago. I was a custodian at one of the hotels around the corner,"

Mays has been staying at a homeless shelter nearby. After enjoying a meal of ham, green beans and mac’ n’ cheese, Mays sat down in a tent where a nursing student washed his feet.

"It tickles," chuckled Mays.

Then, he walked — with the aid of a cane — to the next tent… to receive a free new pair of shoes.