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| making tacos for another day. nick (far right) is the head chef on the night shift. he runs a tight ship; he appreciates volunteers. |
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| l.a. mission parking lot. a guard (who also lives at the mission as a program member) checks to see if you were scheduled to come in. since i'm a regular, i don't call in beforehand; people have sometimes recognize me and just wave me in. there are days when a certain organization (i.e., l.a. works) already booked the night, so free-flowing volunteers aren't allowed to help. i came one night and wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms by an l.a. works organizer. i'm going to stick with monday nights. |
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men who are in l.a. mission's one-year program, having some downtime before serving a meal. they work an eight-hour day doing various jobs (e.g., kitchen service, physical education teacher's aide, donation pick-up, parking lot attendant), live at the facility, take various spiritual (and biblical studies) courses and job training classes. they're also paid a dollar weekly. random drug testing occurs once (or up to three times) a week. one fail and a person is dismissed. to enter the program, a person must stay clean from alcohol and drugs for thirty days, after which they are eligible to start and, if all goes well, graduate in a year. |
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| my good friend nick. i first met him in '05. my first visit to the mission. i believe he's been head chef for about six years. in '09, while unemployed, i became a weekly volunteer. that's how i developed a relationship with this tatooed kitchen expert. lately, i've been helping out once every few weeks. |
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| jeffrey (left). leon. men in the program. it was jeffrey's first day. leon had been in five months. |
 nightly service. |
| people looking for a meal must attend the service beforehand. dinner is served at about 7:25 p.m. |
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| clean-up crew. kitchen staff wipe off what's left of the plates and pass them off to the dish washer. there's a machine which does the washing, the dish washer removes any excess food off the plate. over the years, i've had the opportunity to be a plate passer and plate washer. |
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| volunteers are primarily placed on the "line." people on the line must work fast to scoop up beans, rice, or other types of food to those who've just emerged from the nightly service. on monday, sept. 5, 2011, people fed: spanish: 87. english: 125* *approximate numbers. |
