Thankful for the Work and for You

Giving thanks for you—and for the chance to walk with our neighbors in need.

Today, I’m sitting with an unusual mix of gratitude and awe. Not the shiny, postcard kind of gratitude, but the kind that comes from walking with people whose dignity is too often overlooked, and seeing how courage shows up in the smallest moments.

This year has stretched all of us in different ways, and yet you’ve stayed with us—showing kindness, checking in, supporting the work at the Hotel Cecil, and standing with our neighbors on Skid Row. I’m grateful for every bit of that. Truly.

I’m also grateful for the chance to serve. It’s a strange thing to call work like this a gift, but it is. Every conversation, every hallway moment, every late-night worry someone trusts me with—it all reminds me what it means to belong to one another.

Thank you for believing in this messy, holy, everyday work. Thank you for helping protect the dignity of people who deserve to be seen and treated as fully human—not just today, but always.

Wishing you a gentle, grounded Thanksgiving. And as we head into the week ahead, please keep our work—and our neighbors—in your heart. Tuesday is just another day on the calendar, but it’s a day when generosity can go a very long way.

With abundant gratitude,

Fr. Dylan

The work we do at the Hotel Cecil and across Skid Row is sustained by community members like you. Please consider becoming a Friend of the Cecil or making a one-time donation to support our ongoing efforts to ensure people can live with dignity.