Heartfelt Thanks : Skid Row Residents Send Sinatra a Valentine for His Financial Assistance

After five years of sleeping on the streets of Skid Row, Richard Croker was happy to be singing a different tune Thursday.

“High hopes, I’ve got high hopes. I’ve got high apple pie in the sky hopes . . .” Croker crooned.

If the words didn’t fit the gritty setting at the corner of 4th and Los Angeles streets, where the 61-year-old homeless man was standing with a crowd of other homeless men, the sentiment did.

Croker and nearly 3,000 other street people were sending a valentine card to Frank Sinatra, the man who made that song famous.

The giant Valentine’s Day greeting was mailed Thursday in the hopes it would reach Sinatra’s home in Rancho Mirage today.

The card, reading “One heart simply isn’t enough to hold our feelings for you,” thanked the entertainer for contributing thousands of $1 bills that a Catholic priest has handed out to homeless denizens of downtown Los Angeles over the past five years.

Father Maurice Chase passes out about 1,500 of the crisp new dollar bills each Sunday. The money is donated by Sinatra and other celebrities.

Sinatra was in Las Vegas for a show Thursday and could not be reached for comment. But a spokeswoman indicated he would be looking forward to receiving the card.

Chase toted the three-foot cardboard greeting and a red felt-tipped pen around Skid Row for three weeks to collect the signatures. When the card was finally slipped into the mail, not a single name was smudged--despite the thousands of rough and dirty hands that handled it.

“I’m surprised. I thought it would be absolutely filthy by now,” said the retired school chaplain and Catholic university fund-raiser.

Chase, 62, continued to socialize with celebrities when he left his Loyola Marymount University post. His hobnobbing has raised some eyebrows among other local priests, he acknowledges.

But Chase, who likens himself to Robin Hood, said taking from the rich and giving to the poor has paid off. He estimated that he has given away half a million celebrity dollar bills over the past five years.

That’s drawn criticism, too, he said.

“Sure, it would be ideal if I could have taken that money and opened a hotel or something for the homeless. But I want to do something immediate to give these people a lift,” Chase said.

“It’s hard for some people to believe. But there are people out here that don’t have a dollar bill in their pocket. Can you imagine people standing in line two hours to get a dollar?”

Although some along Skid Row spend their dollar on wine, others are happy to have it to buy a cup of coffee or a taco.

“A lot of Sundays he’s helped me out, and a lot of other people too,” said Lester Blankenship, 41, as he added his name to Sinatra’s card. “We all look forward to the Dollar Man.”

Blankenship has lived on Skid Row since his left foot was cut off when he tried to hitch a ride aboard a freight train 1 1/2 years ago. He said he admires Sinatra’s movies more than his music. “He did those Las Vegas movies. I loved those,” Blankenship said.

Croker said Sinatra has never been his favorite singer, either. He said he is a Mario Lanza fan.

And, “I have only so-so hopes,” Croker said.