User:Unionrescuemission1

Rev. Andrew (Andy) J. Bales, M.A.T.

Andy Bales is the CEO of the Union Rescue Mission located in Downtown Los Angeles. With its 117-year history, The Union Rescue Mission is the oldest homeless shelter in Los Angeles, California.

As CEO, Andy serves the ever increasing homeless population by connecting the surrounding communities to "his homeless friends."

Under his leadership, Andy is bringing the Union Rescue Mission into a new era of unique and innovative services to aid the hapless conditions of the homeless. These services include mental health, medical, dental, legal and a plethora of recovery services geared toward men, women and children.

The Union Rescue Mission embraces the urban poor with the compassion of Christ, giving hope and healing for a changed life, helping them to find their way home.

Andy is on a mission to move the senior women and women with children off of the streets of Skid Row. Through the launch of his latest venture, Hope Gardens Family Center, a transitional housing facility for up to 225 families, Andy has assembled a committed team that provides permanent supportive housing for senior women in Sylmar, California as well as safe housing and educational programs for women and children.

As Hope Gardens Family Center becomes a reality, Andy is looking at expanding programs for homeless men in the community. He is eager to address issues of transitional and permanent supportive housing for men who are looking for an opportunity to overcome homelessness and become self-supporting.

Andy’s vision for the future of the Mission is most definitely in keeping with the Union Rescue Mission’s long and distinguished history of service in the City of Los Angeles. Established in 1891, the Mission has always served the most desperate men, women and children of the community.

Andy has many awards and honors for his community service, including: being named as the 930th Point of Light by President George Bush in 1992, receiving the 1999 Des Moines NAACP Community Service Award, and receiving the 2004 Martin Luther King, Jr. Award from the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Pasadena. He has been featured in Leadership Journal’s article “Great to Good Churches” and is a frequent guest speaker at conferences, schools, and clubs.

Andy is currently working on the final phase of his Doctor of Ministry degree at Bakke Graduate University in Seattle, Washington. He will add this degree to several other academic credentials: a Master of Arts in Teaching (M.A.T.) from Drake University (1983), and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Bethel College (1980). Andy has also completed 50 hours toward a Ph.D. in sociology from Iowa State University.

At his own home, Andy and wife Bonnie have six children, ranging in age from 16 to 26. In addition, Andy and Bonnie often provide a home for foster children.