In a heart-wrenching incident at MacArthur Park, a woman renowned for her weekly dedication to feeding the homeless suffered a brutal attack. While serving meals, she was struck with a metal pipe, resulting in a shattered jaw and the loss of six teeth. A fundraiser has been established to help alleviate the financial burden of her escalating medical expenses.
The GoFundMe campaign, initiated by Catherine Schetina on behalf of Eva Woods, a devoted volunteer, reveals that this violent episode unfolded during the group’s routine Sunday lunch service in late February.
According to the fundraiser details, the assailant approached Woods from behind without any forewarning, delivering a blow to her face with the metal pipe.
“During our regular lunch service on Sunday, Feb. 22, a woman came through the park with a metal pipe. Without conversation, she came up behind Eva and hit her in the jaw,” the campaign page describes.
The Post has attempted to reach both Woods and Schetina for further insights into the incident but has yet to receive a response.
Following the attack, Woods was swiftly taken to the hospital, where she underwent surgery the next day. Medical professionals reported that both her upper and lower jaws were fractured in the assault. The fundraiser further notes that Woods’s jaw has been wired shut, and she faces the need for dental implants to replace the six teeth lost in the ordeal.
Friends say Woods has spent the last six years running the MacArthur Project, a volunteer-run mutual aid effort that provides more than 700 meals each week to homeless people living in the park.
Volunteers serve food three times a week and regularly distribute hygiene kits, groceries, tents and other supplies.
“This woman, and this incident, are not representative of the culture of MacArthur Park and the community we serve there,” Schetina wrote. “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.”
But the attack unfolded in a park long tied to a relentless stream of emergency calls.
The California Post recently reported that areas such as Skid Row and MacArthur Park generate a staggering number of 911 calls as first responders grapple with the city’s spiraling homelessness and mental health crisis.
Roughly one-third of all calls to the Los Angeles Police Department, about 40 calls every hour, involve someone suffering a mental health crisis, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell told The Post.
Firefighters on the front lines say the numbers are just as staggering. Los Angeles Fire Department Station 11, which serves the MacArthur Park area, responded to 8,568 ambulance runs in the first eight months of 2025, compared with just 55 structure fires, making it one of the busiest firehouses in the country.
“I am healing and will be back in the park as soon as physically possible,” Woods wrote on Instagram, thanking donors after the fundraiser quickly surpassed its initial goal. “Being able to heal without worrying about money is a gift I can’t even describe.”
The fundraiser has raised roughly $39,000, which organizers say will help cover the estimated $30,000 cost of dental implants and related medical care.
