A lady recognized for feeding the homeless every week in MacArthur Park was savagely attacked with a metallic pipe whereas serving meals, leaving her with a shattered jaw and 6 enamel knocked out, in line with a fundraiser created to assist cowl her mounting medical payments.
The GoFundMe web page, organized by Catherine Schetina on behalf of longtime volunteer Eva Woods, says the violent assault occurred through the group’s common Sunday lunch service within the park in late February.
The suspect approached Woods from behind with out warning and struck her within the face with a metallic pipe, in line with the fundraiser.
“Throughout our common lunch service on Sunday, Feb. 22, a girl got here via the park with a metallic pipe. With out dialog, she got here up behind Eva and hit her within the jaw,” the web page states.
The Submit reached out to each Woods and Schetina for added remark concerning the assault however haven’t heard again.
Woods was rushed to the hospital and underwent surgical procedure the next day. Medical doctors mentioned each her higher and decrease jaw had been damaged within the assault, the GoFundMe web page states. It additionally says that Wooden’s jaw has been wired shut and she or he would require dental implants to interchange the six enamel she misplaced within the assault.
Buddies say Woods has spent the final six years operating the MacArthur Mission, a volunteer-run mutual support effort that gives greater than 700 meals every week to homeless individuals dwelling within the park.
Volunteers serve meals 3 times per week and often distribute hygiene kits, groceries, tents and different provides.
“This girl, and this incident, aren’t consultant of the tradition of MacArthur Park and the group we serve there,” Schetina wrote. “She is just not somebody we’ve met previously, and others within the park weren’t accustomed to her. This was completely a weird one-off.”
However the assault unfolded in a park lengthy tied to a relentless stream of emergency calls.
The California Submit just lately reported that areas similar to Skid Row and MacArthur Park generate a staggering variety of 911 calls as first responders grapple with the town’s spiraling homelessness and psychological well being disaster.
Roughly one-third of all calls to the Los Angeles Police Division, about 40 calls each hour, contain somebody struggling a psychological well being disaster, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell advised The Submit.
Firefighters on the entrance strains say the numbers are simply as staggering. Los Angeles Fireplace Division Station 11, which serves the MacArthur Park space, responded to 8,568 ambulance runs within the first eight months of 2025, in contrast with simply 55 construction fires, making it one of many busiest firehouses within the nation.
“I’m therapeutic and will likely be again within the park as quickly as bodily doable,” Woods wrote on Instagram, thanking donors after the fundraiser shortly surpassed its preliminary aim. “With the ability to heal with out worrying about cash is a present I can’t even describe.”
The fundraiser has raised roughly $39,000, which organizers say will assist cowl the estimated $30,000 price of dental implants and associated medical care.
