A longtime volunteer known for feeding hundreds of homeless residents each week in Los Angeles’ MacArthur Park was left with a shattered jaw and multiple missing teeth after being attacked with a metal pipe during a meal service, according to supporters.

Eva Woods, who runs the volunteer-led MacArthur Project, was assaulted in late February while serving food during the group’s regular Sunday lunch program in the park.

According to a GoFundMe page created to help cover her medical bills, the attack happened suddenly and without warning.

“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.”

Friends say the blow caused devastating injuries.

Woods was rushed to a hospital and underwent surgery the following day. Doctors determined that both her upper and lower jaw had been broken in the attack.

Her jaw has since been wired shut as she recovers.

The assault also knocked out six of Woods’ teeth, and she is expected to need extensive dental reconstruction, including implants, according to the fundraiser.

Supporters say the injuries have left her facing roughly $30,000 in medical and dental costs.

The GoFundMe campaign, organized by Catherine Schetina, was launched to help Woods cover those expenses while she recovers.

As of this week, the fundraiser has raised approximately $39,000.

Friends say Woods has spent the past six years building the MacArthur Project, a mutual aid effort that provides food and supplies to people living in the park and surrounding area.

The volunteer-run program serves meals three times a week and distributes hygiene kits, groceries, tents and other supplies to people experiencing homelessness.

According to organizers, the effort now feeds more than 700 people each week.

Despite the violent incident, those close to Woods say the attacker appears to have been unknown to the group.

“This woman, and this incident, are not representative of the culture of MacArthur Park and the community we serve there,” Schetina wrote in the fundraiser description.

“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 attack occurred in a neighborhood that has long been at the center of Los Angeles’ ongoing homelessness and mental health crisis.

The California Post recently reported that MacArthur Park and nearby Skid Row generate an enormous number of emergency calls for police and firefighters.

Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell told the publication that roughly one-third of all LAPD calls — about 40 every hour — involve someone experiencing a mental health crisis.

First responders say the burden on emergency services in the area is significant.

Los Angeles Fire Department Station 11, which serves the MacArthur Park neighborhood, responded to 8,568 ambulance calls in the first eight months of 2025 alone.

During that same period, firefighters responded to just 55 structure fires, highlighting how much of their work involves medical emergencies.

For Woods, the focus now is recovery.

In a message posted to Instagram after the fundraiser quickly surpassed its original goal, she thanked donors who helped ease the financial burden of her injuries.

“I am healing and will be back in the park as soon as physically possible,” Woods wrote.

“Being able to heal without worrying about money is a gift I can’t even describe.”