Steve and Regina Weller. Both are Pastors of Foursquare Church in Venice and Chaplains for the Los Angeles Police Department Homeless Task Forcer.

Note: Update hopes everyone who reads Regina’s stories appreciates the humane effort and drama behind the words. To say that Regina and Steve perform a service to residents of Venice and to the homeless is such an understatement.

Venice Stakeholders Association started helping the Wellers with the expenses and then Tami Pardee of Pardee Properties stepped in to provide consistent support. This has allowed the Wellers to step up their program.

Venetians have all read many times that the City’s homeless population has increased 12 percent in the
the last two years.

The increase in Venice has been 16 percent.

Sam
By Regiina Weller

Sam is Tony’s friend. They occupied a space next to each other on 3rd and Rose Avenue and are familiar faces in the homeless camp for a few years. While Tony accepted a ride to new housing offered by the Homeless Task Force, Sam had declined the offer.

Sam identified himself as a “Christian man” who believed he should stay on 3rd and Rose to pray for the disenfranchised that lived there. It was an honorable act, I thought, and it was also evident that he felt a sense of protection by his own sizeable stature. I reminded him, though, that trouble awaits him there because no one is immune to the treachery and instability of the area, and even so, he could pray for the denizens of that street from a safer and healthier location and that prayer is not limited by distance. He declined again, but I couldn’t dismiss the image of this kind and sincere individual from my mind, who believed he had a genuine purpose and function there amongst those struggling. I would send messages to him in the following weeks reminding him that we were saving an extra bed in the safe residence where his good friend Tony lived.

When I heard the news in July that Sam was stabbed multiple times by a stranger who had come to hang out for a few days on that street, I was instantly dismayed by my own limitations in convincing him to move. The stranger had picked a fight with Sam, and asked him if he “controlled the block.” Sam said no, but that had no affect on the stranger who had set out to exhibit his own prowess to those on that street.

No one knew what became of Sam and detectives kept it tight under wraps regarding the whereabouts of his hospitalization. Chaplain Steve and I believed Sam was alive, or the papers would have revealed otherwise. I put the word out to the homeless I knew to give Sam another message from us should they happen to spot him reminding him of a reserved room far from the city of Venice. But there were no sightings of Sam, no word, no nothing. Two months passed by.

It was my last day and final hour of employment at a non-profit collaborative housing organization. I voluntarily terminated there having intended to be of assistance to them for only a few months because of other tentative commitments. This was my exit day and the entire staff was in meetings, with the exception of the receptionist and myself.

The receptionist transferred a phone call to my cell regarding an upset homeowner who ran a collaborative house in North Hollywood.

“I’ve been trying to reach the housing people because they made a mistake in sending me a man without a scheduled appointment,” the caller said. “I’m sorry but now he’s washing his clothes and he doesn’t have rent money.”

“Calm down, please, cause I can certainly help you”, I answered, “the staff are in a meeting, however this problem is easily fixable because there are other houses we can place him in. By the way what’s his name?” “Sam Cosentino”, she answered to my shock. My words tumbled out, “Would you like me to take this individual off your hands?”

“Yes, I would and thank you,“ she answered.

“No, thank you” I responded. “Now let me speak with Mr. Cosentino if you don’t mind.”

I finally interacted with Sam in what surfaced as a timetable of mysterious ways, and I informed him of our diligent search to find him a safe haven especially after his trauma, and that a car would be picking him up at 8 pm. We hung up and my exit from the building ended with icing on the cake. I left that employment with full satisfaction that my time there served its purpose for myself and for those we had come in contact with, and that the LAPD Homeless Task Force is at best a collaborative relay team for the City at the right time, in the right season, and for the right reasons. Adding to our team, the private donations of Pardee Properties makes housing placements immediately possible.

My husband Chaplain Steven Weller and I drove Sam to his new residence far away from the streets of Venice, and we all prayed together in the car on the road to new beginnings.