In 1993, Jonathan Lee Jones woke up one morning in West Hollywood’s Plummer Park hungry and exhausted with no money and nowhere to live.
“It was my lowest point,” said Jones, now 59.
In that moment Jones, who was then addicted to a combination of crystal meth and cocaine, decided enough was enough.
“I couldn’t do this anymore . . . I didn’t see nothing but disaster down the road,” said Jones.
After seeing friends go in and out of jail and not wanting to end up in prison himself, Jones picked up the phone and called his older sister Betty and asked to come home.
His sister didn’t hesitate. She sent him a ticket to head back home to Akron, Ohio and “a few dollars” to get some food.
Jones’s story is one of many in Los Angeles, the nation’s homeless capital.
According to the Weingart Center’s Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty, an estimated 254,000 people are homeless in the Los Angeles County. Of those homeless approximately 33% to 66% of single individuals suffer from substance abuse.
Jones didn’t allow himself to remain a statistic. He disassociated himself from friends who were on drugs and went back to Akron to get the help he needed.
Jones did not attend any AA or any drug rehabilitation programs.
“I had a solid foundation . . . My . . . family wanted to make sure I could make the transition,” said Jones.
When he returned to Los Angeles drug free, Jones wanted to help others regain control of their lives. He took a trip to the Hollywood food line and saw “a lot of homeless people . . . people who were on drugs and off drugs still in the same position,” said Jones.
Jones then went ahead and invited some of those people he saw on line to stay with him in his Leimert Park home. For Jones, his gesture was nothing out of the ordinary because as a child his parents, who were both pastors at a the local church, always brought people in to stay with the family.
Jones’s act was the start of what is now the non-profit organization Friends Helping Friends.
With the help of those who lived with him and his Leimert Park landlord, Jones established the organization in February of 1997.
“We help the people who can’t get on their feet,” said Jones.
Since its start, Friends Helping Friends has seen more than 350 people walk through their doors. The organization became a non-profit in 2006 and has two transitional homes.
The homes are strategically located in areas where it is hard for clients to find drugs.
Friends Helping Friends places an emphasis on community and establishing a family like environment, similar to what Jones said was the key that helped him achieve sobriety.
Jones hopes to expand Friends Helping Friends in the future buy creating more homes, including residences for women and children and an award ceremony for those who do the kind of work he and his staff does.
Jones was recently recognized by the Office of Mayor Eric Garcetti for his work. He recently showed off his award.
“I felt really great about it,” he said. “The people that you actually do the work for, they don’t know how to thank you. They’re just grateful and thankful it happened and they move on. But to be noticed that you did the work . . . it’s great,” said Jones.
Sober for more than 20 years now, Jones continues to live by and share the advice his parents gave him.
“I put one foot in front of the other and I keep walking and I don’t look back,” he said. “I look forward.”