Officer Jack Richter on the job...
A conversation with Jack Richter is a conversation with a genuinely enthusiastic and caring policeman. Officer Richter has patrolled many areas of Los Angeles over the years and is particularly stricken by what happens on Skid Row. As he puts it, “Once you’re on Skid Row, you’re in dire straits. When you’re on Skid Row and a woman, it’s even worse.”
Women who are disenfranchised, homeless and struggling with addiction are an oft forgotten slice of the populace, but they have found a champion in the “His Sheltering Arms” shelter. Located on 11101 South Main Street, the shelter has been providing food, medical services, drug and alcohol recovery, career guidance and family assistance for over 25 years.
“I went down to the shelter a couple months ago, intending only to stay a couple minutes and ended up staying a couple of hours. That shelter has made an art of doing god’s work on the devil’s budget! The women are required to chart their progress and are held accountable for it. I’ve met women who have gotten clean, done what the courts have ordered them to do and even move on to get jobs. And these are women who have been homeless, in prison and on the streets with severe alcohol and drug problems. That’s huge.”
In honor of the work His Sheltering Arms has done, Officer Richter is hosting a charity benefit at LoftSEVEN this Thursday, November 19th.
“If I have any talent at all, it’s being able to call the right people,” Richter quips about the charitable donations of food (courtesy of Royal Clayton’s Restaurant) drink and the LoftSEVEN penthouse for the affair.
We invite you to come check out the event, if not for the cinema, music and silent auction, come to support the incredible work of a humble organization.
“I hope the one thing we get out tonight is awareness,” says Richter. “Hopefully more people will leave thinking that we all need to help these people out.”
Downtown Los Angeles News ‘Sleepless For A Cause’
