article_snippet: That doesn't deter Ryan Navales, manager of government and public affairs for the Midnight Mission, which strives to lift people out of poverty.
article_snippet: The century-old Midnight Mission now serves 3,000 meals daily to the homeless, Navales said.
article_snippet: Navales cites a shortage of affordable housing as a reason for how "there's no place for people to go.
article_snippet: Navales asserts Navales agencies and others offers hope to those who feel hopeless.
article_snippet: Navales knows from personal experience.
article_snippet: Navales once worked for Microsoft as a network administrator in the 1990s, but Navales lost Microsoft all, including Navales family.
article_snippet: Drug addiction obliterated Navales life.
article_snippet: After destroying his family, in and out of jail, in and out of treatment, I was living on the streets and doing what people have to do on the streets to support a really gnarly heroin habit,Navales said.
article_snippet: In August of 2011, I was brought to the Midnight Mission homeless," Navales added.
article_snippet: Navales now wears a suit, on Skid Row's front line, trying to relieve and unravel the nation's Gordian knot of poverty.