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Skid Row

Small acts of kindness

By Chad CorkPublished 3 years ago 2 min read
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"The General"

Skid Row: a run-down part of a town frequented by vagrants, alcoholics, and drug addicts. At the end of last year I was driving back home and decided to drive through DTLA, specifically Skid Row. As I passed from Million dollar highrises and shiny cars the landscape quickly changed and you truly felt like you had entered a third world country, right in the heart of the city. Men in business suits were quickly replaced by people in dirty clothes staggering across the street with an old beat up shopping cart for of treasures found in the city trash cans. Upon each turn I made there were tents that covered the sidewalks as far as the eye could see. I reached a corner where there was a huge set of three tents. This is where it all began. I said to myself, I can do more, I can maybe give some of these people a little joy with very little effort. I drove home that day and raided my closets, the weather had started to get cold here in Los Angeles and I knew that I had jackets, that were like new and could go to use for someone else. I had my wife go through her stuff as well as our 5 year old, who grows out of stuff almost weekly. With a car full of bags of clothes I went back to DTLA on a mission, I was going to make a difference no matter what. I met miss Stephanie who is the boss on this corner, she makes sure people get supplies that they need while at the same time making sure that people don't grab stuff just to grab it, there is a way down there and it starts with her. I went home after this and posted on a local site asking my neighborhood to do the same and go through their closets and thin out their stuff, all for a good cause, I hit send and waited. Within only a few hours I was being hit up by all walks of life letting me know that they had bags of clothes, boxes of shoes and even some hand knitted hats. Since this initial post I have made six different trips down there and we are not even out of Jan. I write all of this to show that you can do such a small little act and it can have such an amazing impact. The photo is of a man simply referred to as "The General" and he is Miss Stephanie's right hand man and keeps and eye on the people's coming and goings on the block as well as protects those in need. A quiet man, with a big heart, hawk like focus and as he told me, he might be 65 but he is not afraid to kick a young man's ass if need be...

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