A Helping Hand

Members of Skid Row-Kyo Mission at Centenary United Methodist Church in Little Tokyo, along with Expo Originals, a Los Angeles Football Club supporters group, distributed blankets to homeless people on Skid Row.

A caravan of three cars loaded with blankets went out in two shifts, from 9 to 11 p.m. on Christmas Eve and 2 to 4 a.m. on Christmas morning. The church had been collecting donated blankets since its annual holiday gathering on Dec. 15.

“Tonight an elderly man sincerely said, ‘I love you’ with teary eyes just because I gave him a blanket,” said volunteer Shuko Akune. “Underneath each tent there is someone’s dad, mom, grandmother, grandfather, auntie, uncle, daughter or son.”

Photos by MARTHA NISHINAKA