Melissa Richard

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Melissa RICHARD

Garage Sale Dresser, Vanity, and Painting with Charcoal and Paint

Jason Leith, 2014

During garage sales, families haul their histories out onto their driveways. As I attended these garage sales throughout the Casa Blanca neighborhood on Saturday mornings, I would meet the families, hear their stories, and find objects among their things that could serve as canvases for their portraits. Casa Blanca is a humble place, yet so rich in history, which is ingrained not only in its residents, but also its objects.

These old car parts, cheap appliances, dinged furniture pieces, and endless clothing items were clutter and cast-offs to the owners, but still hold value in the story they tell of that owner. To associate a person so deeply with these items as to draw their portraits on them falls short in ways, but it is a strong physical representation of how we make an impression on our objects and surroundings and how they impress us.

Author Nikki Grimes responded to each portrait and person with a one-page poem.

Price: $1800

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Training with Ginger

I was able to go out the the HUB in Orange and train a local art student in the relational portrait method. Her name is Ginger Anderson she was born for this. As I brought her to shadow me in the relational portrait method it was clear all I was doing was opening the door. she has shown me that Sacred Streets is a movement, not a singular mission. 

Her drawing was so elegant, with Tanya’s hand under her chin and the weighty expression in her eyes. Ginger went on to make two more sketches of two different peoples’ eyes. I didn’t think we had enough time but they were urging us to fit them and Ginger felt up for the task.

I always knew that training people in the relational portrait method was part of what I was called to. But never did I conceive that it could be helping others to walk into their specific calling. My vision was expanded.
Here’s what Ginger says about Tanya who she got to know through her time drawing her.

“Tanya is one of the most determined and hopeful women I have ever met. She has been through a lot in her life that to most would be grounds to give up, but instead Tanya chooses to give. Give to her family and to others. As I was talking to her she was smiling at everyone who passed, helping others get the food they needed and reminiscing with her significant other of 25 years. She is determined to see hope and she is a part of hope in others’ lives.

I often say that words are not needed in order to connect with someone while a portrait is being made and this moment put that to the test. I drew Robert, who is deaf. His kind spirit made him easily approachable. I was glad to be able to affirm Robert’s life and being without using words. I learned that he loves basketball and he is waiting and praying to be reunited with his wife Jacquelin who is sick.

How It All Started

So, how did I get started with all this? 

When I was very young, I remember my dad’s nickname for me: “light in dark places.” However, in my early years I let myself fall silent and unseen. It was not until my mid-teens that I understood my true identity as God’s beloved son, called out of the shadows into the light. I became compelled to find ways to connect with people who felt stuck in the shadows like I did.

Just before entering college, I was wrestling over my life’s calling. I wondered about my gift of making portraits and my love for connecting to people cross-culturally. Would I choose to be an artist or a social worker? Art or people? As I struggled over this dichotomy, the Spirit gave a wonderful answer. “You can do both.” With that very word, I received a rush of images in my mind of making portraits with people as a way to show love and connect. I have been pursuing this integration ever since.

I started to use my love of creating portraits to connect with people I met living on the sidewalk near my college. I saw immediate impact. After some time spent with Steve and making his portrait he told me, When I’m with you, I feel human again.” After this I took my materials to Skid Row knowing I had to make more relational portraits.

These relational portraits matter because they affirm the value of a person’s identity—in a way they never forget. A tangible vision of their value that never changes.

That same year, I started using recycled objects as the canvas—another layer to communicate the story of restoration.

My life’s contribution continues to lead back to portraits of people who are unseen in our society. I’ve seen people rescued from life on the streets because of sitting for their portrait. So, I’ve dedicated my career to this vision.

Portrait at OC Rescue Mission

Jason Leith gets the opportunity to create a portrait for two residents at the Orange County Rescue Mission OCRM. This mother and daughter were in recovery from a difficult set of circumstances, but they were embracing one another in the journey toward stability. Jason captures the unique pieces of their story in a way that they will be encouraged for the road ahead and to tell the story to others who are supporting OCRM. A painting like this timelessly captures the life change that organizations like OCRM are seeing every day.

 

If you’d like to have a portrait done of someone in recovery in your organization, please email jason @ sacred streets dot org.

Main Blog

All-NewsPhilanthropyshows/eventsStoriesVideoWritings
November 29, 2012

Skid Row Portrait #3: James G. Gutter Jr.

Making James Gutter’s Portrait James has been without a home for 30 years and is originally from Louisiana.
October 27, 2012

Portraits On Skid Row

After years of contemplation, planning, and over-planning, I finally decided to just grab some basic materials, get in
October 27, 2012

Steve With His Eyes

I have been spending time with Steve lately as it has been a little easier to find him
November 28, 2011

Child Soldier Portraits @ Invisible Children Benefit

I was given the opportunity to do some live art at an invisible children benefit concert two weeks
October 17, 2011

A Life Worth Looking At

First Ever Relational Portrait (Archive from 2011)  This is Steve. He lives in La Mirada behind some restaurants

Homeless Services Orange County 2025

Want to be more empowered to help someone when you see a need? Here’s a Resource sheet for giving assistance to those in the Orange County Area.
It can help with questions like:
    • Where can i send someone for immediate food or shelter in my city?
    • What time and day are food distributions?
    • Where can someone go for long-term housing?
    • Is there help for someone having a mental health crisis near me?

Click Document to View

Screenshot 2025-02-21 at 2.43.36 PM

Sections

  • Food Pantries
  • Medical
  • Drug Rehab
  • Mental Health Crisis
  • Clothing/Shower/Resources
  • Emergency Shelter
  • Housing (Long Term)
  • Employment
  • Outreach

Cities

  • North Orange County
  • South Orange County
  • Central Orange County
  • San Juan Capistrano
  • Brea
  • Santa Ana
  • Anaheim
  • La Habra
  • Irvine
  • San Clemente
  • Laguna Niguel
  • Fullerton
  • Orange
  •  Huntington Beach
  • Westminster
  • Mission Viejo
  • Rancho Santa Margarita
  • Tustin
  • Cypress
  • Costa Mesa
  • Placentia
  • Garden Grove
  • Lake Forest
  • Laguna Beach
  • Huntington Beach
  • Fountain Valley
  • Midway City
  • Stanton
  • Buena park

State of Homelessness in Orange County 2025

State of Homelessness in Orange County

Over the past month, I’ve been ensuring that I’m up to date with the latest research and progress on helping people who living in poverty in Orange County. I’ve attended events and done a fair share of reading. Here’s some key takeaways of what I learned from dozens of leading voices.

State of Homelessness Address (from United to End Homelessness). Statements from Vincent Sarmiento (2nd District Supervisor), Katrina Foley (OC Board Supervisor), Tim Shaw (Continuum of Care), and more

  • Key Takeaway: As a “housing-first” advocates, their first goal is to simply get someone housed. However, long-term low income housing is short in supply, expensive to build, and slowed by delays among collaborating sectors. It costs more to serve someone unhoused than to pay for their housing.

 

Giving Guidance to End Homelessness. A panel discussion from the CEOs of Second Harvest, Illumination Foundation, and Families Forward.

  • Key Takeaway: similar to the above, they see the path as providing housing as a basic right, but wait times and delay in development hinder progress.

 

Americans with No Address Documentary. Film on the faces of homelessness and different approaches to helping across the United States.

  • Key Takeaway: The US Federal Approach to homelessness is not working (so-called harm reduction programs and lack of mental health care). The holistic care programs of Rescue Missions show hopeful results.

Video | Robert’s Life Change

Jason Leith’s creative process began with drawing live portraits on the sidewalk. See this process as Leith draws the portrait of Robert, a man who had lived life on Skid Row with a drug addiction for decades, and how it sparked life change.

John

John is a kid, like me. He loves to read, which is an anomaly on Skid Row that he gets ridiculed for. And he wants to be a chef. Or a butler. He has a dream of going to culinary school and learning to cook his favorite American cuisine. But culinary school feels very inaccessible to him right now. He doesn’t have enough hope that it could ever be possible, and he doesn’t know where the push could come from that would get him off the streets and into school. A week after doing his portrait, I heard John finally decided to make his way back home to his family, something his skid row buddies were trying to convince him of for nearly a year.

—

John  by Jason Leith

found table, metal, charcoal, etching

available for purchase

Email Jason
John, unhoused on Skid Row Los Angeles
meeting with John on Skid Row, Los Angeles
Face-to-Face Connection

Robert

Robert is an overcomer. Virtually seconds after meeting Robert, he told me that the number one thing that he wants to communicate to the world is the horror of crack cocaine. He lifted up his shirt to reveal scores of large, swollen, red lesions on his torso, a problem caused by drug usage, which he wanted me to depict in his portrait.  As I showed Robert how I was going to place my drawing so the holes in the paper become his scars, I told him that if he is trusting in the right source of power, he can turn his body, scars and all, into a powerful story of redemption. He fixed his gaze at me from under his weathered brow and his distinctive headphones, and reiterated that he wanted to get this message out to the world to avoid crack. A week later, Robert called me from a rehab center, and told me that because of his portrait, he had checked himself in and had been clean for 48 hours, for the first time in decades. — Robert  by Jason Leith found paper, charcoal, etching, gold pen SOLD, Private Collection, Michigan Jason@sacredstreets.org