A woman who has spent years feeding the homeless in a Los Angeles park is recovering from a brutal attack that left her with a shattered jaw and several missing teeth.
Eva Woods, a longtime volunteer who helps organize weekly meals for unhoused residents at MacArthur Park, was violently assaulted while serving food during a Sunday outreach event in late February.
According to a GoFundMe fundraiser created by Catherine Schetina to help cover Woods’ medical costs, the attack happened suddenly and without warning.
The suspect allegedly walked up behind Woods while she was helping distribute meals and struck her in the face with a metal pipe.
“During our regular lunch service on Sunday, Feb. 22, a woman came through the park with a metal pipe,” the fundraiser states. “Without conversation, she came up behind Eva and hit her in the jaw.”
Woods was rushed to the hospital following the assault and underwent surgery the next day. Doctors determined that both her upper and lower jaw had been broken during the attack.
Her jaw is now wired shut, and she will need extensive dental work to replace the six teeth that were knocked out, according to organizers of the fundraiser.
Friends say Woods has spent the past six years helping lead the MacArthur Project, a volunteer-run effort that provides hundreds of meals every week to people living in the park.
The group serves food three times a week and also distributes hygiene kits, groceries, tents and other basic supplies to those in need.
“This woman, and this incident, are not representative of the culture of MacArthur Park and the community we serve there,” Schetina wrote on the fundraiser page. “She is not someone we’ve met in the past, and others in the park weren’t familiar with her. This was absolutely a bizarre one-off.”
The shocking assault happened in a park that has long been at the center of Los Angeles’ homelessness and mental health crisis.
Emergency responders say areas like MacArthur Park and nearby Skid Row generate an enormous number of calls for help each year.
According to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell, roughly one-third of all 911 calls in the city involve someone experiencing a mental health crisis. That amounts to about 40 calls every hour.
Firefighters say the demand is just as intense. Fire Station 11, which serves the MacArthur Park area, responded to more than 8,500 ambulance calls in the first eight months of 2025 alone, making it one of the busiest firehouses in the country.
Despite the violent attack, Woods says she plans to return to the park as soon as she is able.
“I am healing and will be back in the park as soon as physically possible,” she wrote in a message posted on Instagram, thanking supporters for helping her through the recovery process. “Being able to heal without worrying about money is a gift I can’t even describe.”
The fundraiser created to help cover her medical bills has already raised roughly $39,000, which organizers say will go toward dental implants and other treatment related to the attack.
Too many demons walking among the good people
You take your life into your hands when you try to help these crazies.