(LAX)—Sara Ulima came to the LAX office because she’d been stranded in the airport for three days and hadn’t been able to speak to her family for over four days. With a German passport issued in Pakistan, and a green card, she wanted to continue on her way to New York City but had lost her money in the backseat of a taxi somewhere in L.A.

She had no money. LAX Case Manager Robin Hendershot allowed Sara to use the office’s Internet connection to contact her family via email, so that they could wire her enough money for a plane ticket. Robin also issued her a phone card for domestic calls, so that she could telephone her friends in New York. Sara was hungry, so Robin gave her a food voucher for something to eat in the airport’s food court. Finally, the money arrived and Sara was able to continue on her journey to New York.

One morning a young woman named Ginny came to see Robin. She was upset and crying, and stranded in L.A. with no money. Ginny told Robin that she had come from Stockton and that her boyfriend had beaten her very badly. The boyfriend had been subsequently arrested and Ginny had fled on a Greyhound bus to L.A., to see her family. When she first arrived she had gone straight to her mother’s house, only to find that her mother had moved—Ginny hadn’t spoken to her in five years.

Ginny tearfully explained to Robin that she wanted to return to Stockton to stay with a friend, but that she needed to wait until the friend, a Mrs. Brooke, returned home from work so that Ginny could telephone her and ask to borrow money for a bus ticket. While waiting, Robin and Ginny contacted the Salvation Army, which agreed to contribute generously to her bus ticket. Robin issued Ginny a Greyhound voucher giving a 25% discount on the total fare, gave her a local bus token and a transfer, and some snacks for her trip. When Robin followed up nearly a month later, she spoke to Mrs. Brooke, who said that Ginny had arrived safely and had got herself back on her feet again and that she was doing well.

--Mark Zipoli