Here We Go Again

I heard this again today. Several times each month I hear something like this, usually from men who are retired and enjoying the fruits of their many years of hard work. Today, I was buying milk for the Rescue Mission. I had 30 gallons in my cart and was in the parking lot loading them into the truck. The gentleman who walked past me was surprised to see that much milk purchased by one customer, but when he saw me loading them into a truck with the Mission logo on the side, he knew the reason.

"I hope those men down there at the Mission appreciate that," he said kindly. "Oh, they do indeed," I replied. "I spent 20 years in [a particular branch of the armed forces], and I think those guys need to get a job and work for a living."

This reminded me of the time several years ago when two older gentlemen stopped by our display at the Canfield fair and handed me a $10.00 donation. The stipulation was that it should be used to help the women and children. "Don't use it for those bums who refuse to get a job," he added. This reminded me of several misconceptions that people have about the population we serve and what we do at the Mission.

Misunderstanding #1: People are homeless because they are lazy and refuse to work.
This misconception is that there is a large group of people who "work the system" and depend upon others to maintain them. Granted, this is true of some. It is not true of all, or even most. People are not at the Mission because they are lazy; they are there because they are broken. Substance abuse and broken relationships break people and their support systems. Until they begin to take responsibility for this brokenness, they cannot begin to heal.

Misunderstanding #2: The Mission shelters men who could be out working. The "out working" is addressed above, but some people are unaware that the Mission provides shelter for women and children. As of this writing, the Mission provides emergency shelter for 34 women and 18 children. That the Mission is a men's shelter likely stems from the fact that people who drive past the shelter mostly see the men outside smoking. The women use the back and side of our property while the men walk across the street. It's safer for the children and keeps fraternization at a minimum.

Misunderstanding #3: Rescue Missions feed the cycle of dependency that keeps victims at the mercy of agencies and programs. We cannot speak for every Rescue Mission in the country, but, at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, we have implemented intentional programs that work to break the cycle of dependency and promote self-reliance. We are seeing some success in this.

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. In the free marketplace of ideas, expressing informed ideas is not necessarily required.

Volunteer Servants.

In our morning staff devotions, Pastor Terry Weyand, our Director of Men's Services, spoke about the difference between serving and volunteering. Serving is focused on serving Christ by and through serving others. A true servant does not look for praise or commendation; a true servant serves no audience but the audience of the One. Volunteers may serve for a variety of reason - many of them good - but a servant will serve selflessly.

At the Mission, we have individuals and groups that provide more than 29,000 hours of volunteer service annually. We call them "volunteers" but they have the heart of servants. They could be called "volunteer servants."
They serve for the joy of serving if it is convenient or not. It's difficult to image life at the Mission without this faithful group of individuals, organizations, and churches who serve Christ by serving people. Thank you for all you do. Remember that "in the Lord, your labor is not in vain" (1 Cor. 15:58)

A Great Partner

On occasion, we will send a shout out to some of the agencies with which we are privileged to partner. One of those agencies is the Youngstown Community Food Bank, also known locally as Gleaners Food Bank. Joe Lordi is its hard working, get-your-hands-dirty executive director. His is an amazing story which you can read here. Each week, the Youngstown Community Food Bank provides groceries to many churches and agencies in the Mahoning Valley who use these resources to feed hungry people. In addition, they provide food directly to people
each Tuesday - to about 450 individuals.

"Gleaners" is a great organization and a great partner in ministry. Thanks, Joe, for helping us help those who are in need.

Feeding the Multitudes

I recently corresponded with an individual who is concerned about hunger in our nation. This person has a goal of feeding 1000 people each day. This may be a realistic goal, depending upon where in the country or the world one lives. As an example,

my correspondent looked to the miracle Jesus performed when he fed more than 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish .

Though we do not have such a lofty goal, we do feed people each day at our Mission in Youngstown. We provide meals for our own residents as well as offering breakfast and dinner for the general public. In fact, in our last fiscal year (2016), we fed 66,402 people. That equates to a lot of meals!

My final comment to this person was in the form of an admonition: as Christian people, feeding the hungry should be one of our concerns. How can we profess the love of Christ and be content to see people hungry? But we should not forget to feed the soul as well as the body. Blessed are they who give of the bread of life to the hungry soul needing the love of Jesus.

Suprised by Joy

As I sit in my office on the first floor of the Mission, contemplating what to write for this blog, I can hear the sounds of Mission life around me. I hear the call for guests or staff booming over the intercom paging speakers; I hear the buzzing of security doors as people go in and out of the Mission; I can hear the muffled sounds of a conversation between a staff member and one of the men in the discipleship academy. One of the sounds that I hear is a sound that few would expect to hear in a homeless shelter: laughter.

Laughter, at a homeless shelter? Yes, and lots of it. It is true that people come here broken, hurt, abused, and hopeless. But quite often, these emotions give way to a sense of healing and hope. I have often thought of how it appears to be an inconsistency that there would be joy in the midst of such heartbreak. Yet, it is there nonetheless.

How does this work? I can only offer these observations:

• The staff at the Rescue Mission is committed to treat each guest with love, dignity, and respect. Those who seek shelter at the Mission have been beaten up enough; we will not add to the misery.
• Our staff refuses to treat our guests as helpless victims of some unidentifiable system. We treat people as adults and challenge them to take responsibility for their lives. They are not victims. They are people created in God's image.
• Genuine hope is offered through the gospel of Christ. This is a hope and assurance that transcends one's financial or social situation. It is a hope that, is "imperishable, undefiled, and unfading" (1 Pet.1:4).
• And, as our Executive Director often remarks, "the presence of the Holy Spirit of God cannot be denied." This is a place where the joy of the Lord resides. That joy becomes contagious.

When it "Leaks" it Pours

The Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley is housed in a vintage YMCA building built in 1930. This place has been our home since 1971. It has served us well these past 46 years, but it is beginning to show its age. Mitigating factors are:

• The overnight population has nearly doubled since 2008 - from an average of 63 overnight stays to 119 in fiscal year 2016.
• Two years ago, we closed our warehouse and administrative office building in a move to become more fiscally responsible. That means we moved all necessary functions to this one building, therefore increasing the demands and usage on our facilities.

In an earlier post we showed a portion of the ceiling that was crumbling in one of our offices. Today we found that a valve had decided "let loose"
within one of our walls. This requires once again breaking walls, dealing with old plaster, concrete and pipes. To quote Shakespeare, our grand old building is beginning to "shuffle off this mortal coil."

This is more indication that we need to "Move our Mission." Help is greatly appreciated.

Snap Shot

The population of people experiencing homelessness in the United States is determined by a point-in-time count, conducted on a given day each January. Obviously, this is not a scientific sampling and presents only a snap shot of a particular day that may or may not be indicative of the actual situation. However, the survey does say something and federal and state agencies use these numbers to determine funding allocations for their various agencies.

The most recent point-in-time count shows that, while the number of individuals who experience homelessness evidences a decrease in the state, there is actually an increase in several communities, including Youngstown. This certainly is the experience here at the Rescue Mission. While the federal government has put initiatives into action that aim to end homelessness, we have found that the numbers in the Mahoning Valley have increased. In 2008, the Mission saw and average of 60 people who sought shelter with us. In 2016, that number more than doubled to 130!

Regardless of trends, statistics and surveys, there will always be the need for the Rescue Mission. If we have learned anything in our 124 year history, we have learned that people are broken and often seek spiritual and emotional healing. Because of this, we
 bring the gospel to bear on every life and situation. And it matters little to us if we speak to 60 or to 130.