Monica Part 1

I met her in a Skid Row ally. It was one of the most terrible moments of my life.

I’ve worked here on the streets of Skid Row a long time and I thought I had heard it all, but this woman’s story completely broadsided me.

She looked me straight in the eyes and said, "Lady, I came down town this morning to give my baby away."

How do you respond to a statement like that—coming from the lips of a mother? What on earth could bring a mother to the point where she would give away her own flesh and blood, her own son?

I can't even imagine the desperation that would bring her to such a decision.

So finally I said, "Give your baby away! Why?"

We sat down on some discarded milk crates here in the alley behind the mission, and this desperate mother sobbed and sobbed as she struggled to tell me what was happening in her life.

She said, "My baby and I have been sleeping in an alley, right on the concrete, but it was cold and we were both sick. And then last night it rained and it rained, and I wondered if we would make it through the night. So I begged some people to let us sleep inside their house, and after they agreed the man in the house demanded sexual favors from me, and I agreed… just so my baby wouldn’t have to sleep in the rain and maybe die."

Friend, I need your help today, to feed desperate people like this mother. Please! Phone our toll free number 1 (844) FJM- FOOD. Use a major credit card when you phone or when you donate online, fjm.org. Or mail your check to me here at the mission, PO Box 12345 Covina CA, 91722.

Blessings,

Willie L. Jordan (Mrs. Fred Jordan)