One year after the original lockdown from the pandemic, The Dream Center in Echo Park, Los Angeles, kicked off the next phase of their “Restore LA®” initiative on Tuesday with a celebration and ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Restore LA is the Dream Center’s 2021 plan to help individuals and families experiencing homelessness, poverty, addiction, mental health issues, or domestic violence situations by expanding their housing program, linking the people with business leaders and other influencers who can offer needed assistance and resource programs free of charge.
The faith-based, non-profit has expanded their transitional housing. The Dream Center now has 42 rooms to accommodate 42 family units to live and rebuild their lives from the devastating effects of the pandemic.
With community and small business support, the Dream Center of Los Angeles distributed 7 million pounds of food through their food bank since March of last year. Currently, numbers show they have served 5 million meals, with 1.6 million of those were hot meals made in their own kitchen.
“This past year has included ministries and emergency relief I never imagined needing to provide for the people I love in Los Angeles,” Dream Center co-founder Matthew Barnett told KLOVE news. “But watching those in my orbit rally together to provide food, essentials, housing, tutoring and so much more to the folks who need it most has been a silver lining in a cloudy year. I’m blown away with each measure of generosity from those that desperately want to see this city recover. Our work is certainly not over; so as we launch Restore LA, my hope and prayer is that our partners, volunteers, and donors will keep it at full throttle as we seek to revive a community in need.”
Apart from the meals served this past year, hundreds of people found the Dream Center’s transitional housing program as a steppingstone towards rebuilding their lives, while their Restart Learning Center supported remote learning for approximately 60 students per day.
Find out more about Restore LA and all that the Dream Center offers at dreamcenter.org.
Photo courtesy: Tom Thain/Unsplash
Crystal A Dixon is contributing writer at ChristianHeadlines.com, Devotableapp.com. Visit her blog at crystaladixon.com