MISSION'S HEAD VOLUNTEERED HIS WAY TO TOP POST.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

Larry Adamson awakened last year from the American Dream, left his executive post and took on the leadership of a downtown L.A. mission for the homeless.

The Newhall resident, a 24-year employee of the Southern California Automobile Club, is now chief executive officer of Skid Row's Midnight Mission, where he works full-time with the downtrodden.

``I wanted the job because I had already served on the executive board and was familiar with the mission's goals and wanted to make a difference,'' he said. ``And I know I can.''

He had been a volunteer for several years at the mission, which has a staff of about 130 and is the only facility on Skid Row that serves three meals a day to street people. More than 55,000 meals are served each month.

Adamson took on the top job and recently was awarded California State University, Los Angeles' Award of Merit for his work.

The university knows Adamson from a different realm.

During his stint as vice president of the Auto Club's administrative services, Adamson, encouraged by his employer to become involved in community work, also presided over the California State University Alumni Association, where, under his guidance, volunteerism increased by over 50 percent.

A 1974 graduate of California State University, Los Angeles, Adamson also created a CSU Alumni Association publication and reinitiated the alumni scholarship program.

In 1996, Adamson's service to the university and to the statewide alumni effort led to his selection as the Alumni Volunteer of the Year.

But according to CSULA spokeswoman Carol Selwin, Adamson's real accomplishment is his humanitarian work. He's achieved his goals, lived the prestigious life of the corporate executive, enjoyed the many perks of his position and walked away from it all to where he was needed.

Receiving the merit award was one of the highlights of his life, Adamson said.

``I'm honored to be amidst people I've always looked up to,'' he said.

The late Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and county Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich are among past recipients of the merit award.

And Adamson, as the CEO of the nonprofit organization, particularly relishes being recognized by CSULA, ``because I'm a great ambassador for a great school that's lost between two publicity giants, UCLA and USC,'' he said. ``But my school's (CSULA) accomplishments are second to none.''

And so are Adamson's.

His drive is to help men who, he said, have made some bad choices in their lives, landing in a lifestyle difficult to overcome.

More than 75 percent of those who come to the mission for meals and to spend the night have very serious drug addictions.

And the profile of the ``skid rower'' has changed - for the worse.

Less than 25 years ago the down-and-outer was an elderly male alcoholic, he said.

Today, the Los Angeles skid row population Adamson knows is made up of men, an average of 33 years old, with serious crack cocaine addictions.

``It's probably the most psychologically addicting drug we have,'' Adamson said.

Crack can be tougher to beat than heroin, he said. Many try to break the addiction and fail.

Heroin can be as addictive, but it affects only the internal organs of the body, Adamson said. Crack, on the other hand, diminishes the mental capacity.

``Just when a former crack user thinks he is cured and things are turning around for him, the craving hits out of nowhere - his brain is telling him to use again,'' Adamson said.

But drug use is only a symptom of a greater problem, the problem of low self-esteem, Adamson said.

As CEO of Midnight Mission, a nonprofit organization that accepts private but no government funding, Adamson has found a number of commonalities shared among the stream of unfortunates who frequently show up there for a meal or clean bed.

Most lack a family structure and have no father figure, he said. By the age of 14, many have experimented with drugs and have a felony conviction by the age of 18, he said.

Adamson sees solutions in teaching the homeless how to read, write and learn to adapt to the literate job world as a means to break their cycle of poverty.

For Adamson, education is a big issue at the mission because 68 percent of the homeless don't have high school diplomas and have typically dropped or flunked out of school.

Supporters led by Adamson will open The Midnight Mission Educational Center by June 15 and will recruit an educational advisory group from the Los Angeles Union School District and the university system to provide an accredited curriculum offering the General Equivalency Diploma as well as remedial classes for the illiterate.

Founded more than 75 years ago, the Midnight Mission was incorporated in 1922.