A Successful Partnership: Volunteer Response Team, Outreach Team and LAPD
BYLINE BY: Sharon Kilbride
Chair, Volunteer Response Team
This success story about Brenda is one of many about how our volunteers, Outreach Team, LAPD, and unsheltered contacts work together to create happy endings!
On March 16, 2022, while I was engaging some unsheltered individuals along Will Rogers Beach, one of our unsheltered male contacts rushed up to say he was worried about an older woman wandering around Venice. He walked with her from Venice to our Wednesday meet-up area at Temescal and the PCH bike path. He said, “I know you guys can help her.” I immediately engaged the woman who had a bright smile and told me she “was hungry.” I gave her some snacks as we talked. She told me her name was Brenda and insisted that she had a home. I asked her where it was, but she was unable to answer. I asked her how long she had been on the streets, and she replied “months.” Brenda told me that she enjoyed staying in camps with other folks on the streets. I told her it wasn’t safe and she agreed, and that our Outreach Team could help her.
Our Outreach angel Glanda arrived, and I told her Brenda’s story. Glanda suspected she might be a missing person so asked our LAPD beach detail for help. Glanda provided her full name and date of birth to LAPD beach detail Officer Margin. It turned out that Brenda was indeed a missing person from a Downtown LA housing project. Glanda called them and was able to reunite Brenda with her case manager. The case manager shared that they were very concerned about Brenda’s safety because she had been missing since October 2021. They immediately came to pick Brenda up and she happily headed home.
Lastly, if you meet someone who is unsheltered in Pacific Palisades who would like help, please email us at info@pptfh.org and please provide a location and photo if possible so we can respond.
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