The Prayer Garden was once the hotel's swimming pool.
Continuing from yesterday and the day before:
During most of my visit to the Walter Hoving Home I followed Associate Director Teresa Wolf from room to room while she described the program in detail. She also showed me her own apartment, which looks out over the Prayer Garden (though not from the spot shown above). Like many of the staffers, Teresa is a graduate of the program, who found her calling there and stayed.
I talked to some of the residents, without asking details of what had brought them there. But when Teresa and I got back to her office, her story came out. She says she has no qualms about sharing it.
It took her five attempts to complete the program. She wasn't getting it. Every time she'd leave she'd end up on the street, using drugs, drinking, and worse. Every time, she'd find her way back to the Home. The last time, she found her way instead to a downtrodden hotel on Pasadena's east side, drunk, beaten, raped and waiting to die.
That story, times 50.
Teresa says she was carried out of that hotel by Elsie Benton, co-founder with her husband, John Benton, of the Walter Hoving Homes. When Teresa was 19 days sober, the Walter Hoving Home offered her a job. She grabbed it like the lifeline it was.
If you need help, call toll free and find out if the program is right for you: 1 (888) 4-Hoving or (626) 405-0950
The Walter Hoving Home accepts collect calls from jails or the streets.
Safe Haven is what this is..
ReplyDeleteWell done, Petrea. This series has been interesting and informative with beautiful accompanying photographs.
ReplyDeleteAnd they have a choir! A few years ago Mayor Bogaard invited them to sing at Pasadena's second annual celebration of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.
ReplyDeleteI attended a rehearsal at the Walter Hoving Home on the mayor's behalf, and seeing how patient the choir director and the composer were with the women while expecting excellence was a revelation.
When the choir arrived at the event, in the elegant Gold Room at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, we provided each of them with a corsage, which brought many of them to tears. When it came time for them to perform, these lovely women -- many of them former prostitutes and addicts -- brought the entire audience to tears.
I'll never forget that evening in the presence of such courage and grace.
Thanks, LOL.
ReplyDeleteAnn, that's a lovely story. It sounds so moving.
My regular readers know I don't espouse Christianity. But I admire those who do so in its original spirit. Someone who calls themselves a Christian (or any religion) and proceeds to hate those who don't follow the same path is missing the point. These people appear to be actual Christians, doing good works.
Petrea, my thoughts also. The Bentons are Christians in the way Jesus intended Christianity to be, helping those that society is too uncomfortable with to help, going into jails, offering a bed to a women on the streets. I wouldn't be able to do it.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your story about the choir, Ann. We need many more Walter Hoving homes and people like the Bentons, but meanwhile, we're very lucky to have them in Pasadena.
WOW, Petrea, what a beautifully written post and fun photographs! After reading Day #1 and #2, I could hardly wait for Day #3! Now I have to jump in with my comment. It was a privilege meeting you briefly before Teresa started your Tour. I've worked with the Walter Hoving Home for over 35 years (part of that at the Home in New York) and can attest to everything you said. We have a home full of beautiful ladies and have seen hundreds of lives completely and dramatically changed. Thank you for sharing our story with the Pasadena community. Joyce Racine
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be able to do it, either, Bellis. These folks have done brave and amazing work.
ReplyDeleteHi Joyce, welcome! It was a pleasure meeting you. It must be rewarding to see the lives of these women improve so dramatically. I enjoyed meeting everyone so much.
I neglected to specify what the choir sang: the preamble of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, set to music.
ReplyDeleteExcellent series of posts! It's very heartening to read about Walter Hoving Home and the work they're doing to help women get their lives back on track.
ReplyDeleteWonderful series, Petrea! So good to read something positive, and of hope.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking the same thing, how this work reflects the true spirit of Christianity. Thanks for sharing this story, P.
ReplyDeleteAnn, that sounds like such a powerful experience. I would love to see their choir.
Great series. So fine to spiritual theory in practice.
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ReplyDeleteI love my sister Montonya!!!!! Thank you for the pics!
ReplyDeleteHi Aleana, it's my pleasure! Montonya is one of the reasons I did this series. She helped to make it possible.
ReplyDeleteGod bless the helpers and the helped, and the bloggers who make good things known.
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