Young people who are down on their luck in Los Angeles gave thanks yesterday for My Friend's Place, a privately funded center that has become a haven where homeless youth can nurture fragile dreams.

It gives them what food it can afford. It gives them clothes, clean underwear and socks, toilet paper, toiletries and hot showers.

If and when they are ready, it gently helps them head toward self-sufficient lives off the street.

(READ the story from the LA Times)