Dear Friend,

Normally, I would begin by sharing a story that has a positive ending, which is always a cherished and wonderful moment. However, this week saw tragedies on the streets of Pasadena, which are also crucial to share. 

On Tuesday, a person was found dead, wrapped in a blanket, near the donation bin at the Goodwill on Fair Oaks. As of now, the circumstances are not fully clear. Then on Wednesday, a woman was found dead behind the Walgreens on Orange Grove and Lake. She was known to the street outreach teams in our city, a woman in her mid-40s and struggling with addiction. It appears that she died of an overdose, under a blanket, alone on the pavement. I know you will agree with me that this should be unacceptable and not tolerated in our community. 

While we can’t fully know what might have saved these two people’s lives, I can say that Pasadena has no interim housing currently available, which has the greatest potential of being a lifeline for those people experiencing homelessness. The concept of master leasing motels as interim/temporary housing, with full wraparound case management, which has been successful in other cities, including Monrovia, continues to be a focus that I am urging to be pursued. As I have talked about before, several motels in our city are ready and willing to participate in such a venture.

As community members, your voice, especially at the city council, will be crucial to moving this idea forward. If you are so inclined, please meet with your council member and attend council meetings to voice your support during public comment. As we see from this week’s tragic deaths, this could be a way to literally save lives. If you have questions or want to learn more, please feel free to contact me, joshualg@friendsindeedpas.org.

To end on a positive note, our backpack and school supplies drive is happening now! As the new school year approaches, we’re working hard to ensure every child in our community has the tools they need to succeed—and we need your help!

Friends In Deed is collecting backpacks and school supplies to support local students, with a goal of assembling 400 fully stocked backpack kits. With your support, we can make sure every child starts the year confident, prepared, and ready to learn.

There are multiple ways to give:

📍 Drop off donations in person at Friends In Deed 444 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91104

Thursdays: 1:30–4:00 p.m.

Fridays & Saturdays: 9:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

📦 Shop our Amazon Wish List and have items shipped directly to us

✨ New! We partnered with the Sydney Paige Foundation. You can now purchase pre-packed school supply kits that ship straight to Friends In Deed: donate.sydneypaige.org/friendsindeed

We would like all school supply donations by Friday, July 25, 

and all backpack donations by Friday, August 1. 

For more information about the drive and our school supply list, please visit our website. 

Thank you!

Blessings and have a lovely weekend,

Rabbi Joshua

We can only operate with your help!

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At Friends In Deed, we honor the dignity and privacy of every person we serve. The stories we share are real, but sometimes, we change names or minor details or use stock photos to protect our clients’ identities. Thanks for your compassion, understanding, and support.

Friends In Deed is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of diversity, equity and inclusion. We embrace and celebrate the spectrum of our employees’, volunteers’, and clients’ ages, color, ability or disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, physical and mental ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, neurodiversity, and other characteristics that make our employees, volunteers, and clients unique.