Faith, shelter, and recovery from Skid Row.
Stories From Skid Row pairs personal testimony with mission updates from Union Rescue Mission. Its conversations move between Skid Row, Hope Gardens, Angela's House, recovery programs, retail fundraising, and the moral urgency of helping unhoused people in Los Angeles.
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Stories From Skid Row presents Los Angeles homelessness through the lens of Union Rescue Mission. It is direct, warm, and openly faith-based. Kitty Davis-Walker and Frank Motek steer the program with a familiar talk-radio rhythm, setting up each episode with the scale of the crisis and the mission's response. The show repeatedly names Skid Row as more than a single street, placing the conversation inside a wider downtown reality of shelters, families, seniors, and people in urgent need. Testimony is central. Becky Yarrow speaks from inside URM's programs, where hope, boundaries, classes, and recovery become part of a longer story of rebuilding. Staff voices also matter. Brandie Broussard describes work with single women and the Damascus recovery program, including the practical dignity of changing a dorm into a more personal space. The program also follows the institution itself. Mark Hood appears as URM CEO, while episodes mention leadership changes, campaign launches, donor accountability, and the Just Help One effort across Los Angeles billboards and media. Ella Van Nort brings another side of the mission through retail operations, with a new fashion store in downtown Los Angeles raising money through donated merchandise. Public issues enter the conversation too, including state funding for encampments and the hosts' concern that clearing camps without recovery services will not solve the deeper problem. The show is not neutral in posture. It argues from Christian compassion, institutional trust, and the conviction that private support can feed, shelter, and restore people. Fundraising is woven into the format rather than hidden at the edges. That gives the program a specific character: part testimony hour, part ministry update, part civic appeal. It suits listeners who want human stories and practical mission work more than abstract debate. The emotional center is steady and grave, but not hopeless. Again and again, the show moves from hardship toward shelter, recovery, family care, and transformation.
Made for: For listeners interested in Los Angeles homelessness through a Christian service and nonprofit-response lens. It especially suits people drawn to testimony, mission work, recovery stories, and donor-supported community care.
What sets it apart: The show blends firsthand URM stories with live institutional advocacy, so personal recovery, shelter operations, campaigns, and fundraising all occupy the same conversation. Its point of view is openly ministry-centered rather than neutral or journalistic.
"Stories From Skid Row" gives listeners an opportunity to hear first-hand testimonies from those who are experiencing homelessness, as well as staff and friends of Union Rescue Mission. These episodes provide a glimpse into the issues surrounding homelessness and the work being done to combat this serious problem in Los Angeles.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Personal accounts and staff interviews connect Los Angeles homelessness to the daily programs, policy questions, and recovery work of Union Rescue Mission.
Stories From Skid Row moves between personal testimony, conversations with Union Rescue Mission staff, and discussion of Los Angeles homelessness policy.
Homelessness stops being a headline when Kitty Davis-Walker and Frank Motek bring you inside URM's work.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Becky's recovery story is steady, specific, and grounded in the Damascus program.
Becky's story is presented as recovery with structure, not only as personal testimony. The discussion makes room for the Damascus program and for Becky’s account that Jodi was mostly her teacher in classes such as Boundaries, Celebrate Recovery, and Life Skills, which gives the…
A ministry radio conversation where built beds become a measure of welcome.
Brandie Broussard's URM story turns on a practical question: what changes when a women's dorm gets built beds and a stronger feeling of shelter?
A Skid Row radio hour linking local relief work to Los Angeles encampment policy.
Kitty Davis-Walker and Frank Motek give this radio hour a steady, civic-minded shape, moving from Union Rescue Mission's Skid Row work into the broader homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
A faith-centered fundraising episode turns Los Angeles homelessness into a direct call to help one person.
Richard Newcomb, Union Rescue Mission's Vice President of Philanthropy and Social Enterprise, gives the episode a firm center in the Just Help One campaign and the Over the Edge fundraiser.
A family turns anonymous Christmas giving into a quiet practice of faith and care.
Mark Hood's Christmas story frames giving as a quiet family habit rather than a holiday performance. With his wife, Donna, and their five children, he was involved in a church youth program and came to know families who were struggling to make ends meet.
This episode features an interview about the opening of a new Union Rescue Mission store in downtown Los Angeles, discussing its mission to support the homeless.
This episode features the opening of a new Union Rescue Mission store in downtown LA, with an interview about its mission and impact.
This episode introduces a new radio series from Union Rescue Mission, featuring personal stories about homelessness and promoting the 'Just Help One' campaign to raise awareness and support.
This episode introduces the 'Just Help One' campaign to raise awareness and support for the homeless crisis in Los Angeles.
Richard Newcomb, Vice President of Philanthropy and Social Enterprise at Union Rescue Mission, discusses the severe homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
Mark Hood, the new CEO of Union Rescue Mission, shares his journey from a plant manager to leading the organization.
Kitty Davis-Walker opens the broadcast with Frank Motek and introduces Becky's URM story.
Kitty Davis-Walker and Frank Motek open the show with Union Rescue Mission at the center.
Amazing Stories from Skid Row centers on Brandy McFarland, the Union Rescue Mission manager for the single women's Gateway Program and Damascus recovery program, and the hosts say 86 cents of every dollar goes back into URM programs.