CBS’ The Amazing Race taking a giant leap from UCC’s Angelus Plaza in season finale

UCC-related Angelus Plaza, the nation’s largest affordable housing community, will be featured in the season finale of CBS’ The Amazing Race, where contestants will bungee leap off the downtown Los Angeles skyscraper.

The episode will air on Friday, May 13, at 8 p.m. (ET).

Angelus Plaza, located in the heart of downtown Los Angeles’ historic Bunker Hill District, is part of the UCC’s Retirement Housing Foundation and is one of the 400 member ministries of the UCC’s Council for Health and Human Service Ministries (CHHSM).

“We are thrilled to announce that Retirement Housing Foundation’s Angelus Plaza will be featured in the season finale episode of The Amazing Race,” said Chris Ragon, RHF’s Vice President for Communications. “Fans of The Amazing Race and the RHF alike should make sure that you tune in.”

With $1 million on the line, contestants will have to take a “flying leap” off the building and try to grab a clue that is “tantalizingly dangling 170 feet above the ground,” according to a teaser for the long-running reality show. If they fail to grab the clue, they will have to rappel down the side of the building, take the elevators to the top, and try again and again until successful, in order to have a chance of advancing.

“We already knew that Retirement Housing Foundation and Angelus Plaza have been the stars of affordable housing for many years, but now they have become reality TV stars too,” said Michael J. Readinger, CHHSM’s President and CEO.

Angelus Plaza is the largest subsidized community for low-income seniors in the United States and the largest community of RHF which, in turn, is one of the nation’s largest non-profit providers of housing and services for older adults, persons with disabilities, and low-income families.

Angelus Plaza includes 1,093 one-bedroom apartments in five high-rise towers. In addition to housing, the senior community offers health services, meals, recreation, social engagement and lifelong learning. It also has a health center and senior center that serve the broader downtown L.A. community.

“While we can be proud watching this episode knowing that big building has a strong service connection to the United Church of Christ,” Readinger said, “we can also take pride in knowing that, even when it’s not on television, Angelus Plaza serves more than 1,400 low-income seniors everyday as a health and human service ministry of the UCC.”

Based in Long Beach, Calif., RHF was founded in 1961 by two United Church of Christ clergy and a layperson with a vision of providing quality housing and services for seniors. Today more than 20,500 people live in RHF’s 185 communities located across the country. The Rev. Laverne Joseph, a UCC minister, was honored in February for 30 years of service as RHF’s president.