“Rescue Me” is the silent echo that engulfs the Salt Lake Rescue Mission. The mission sits on the very front lines of the fight for the poor, the afflicted, and the addicted. The smells at the mission are stale and stifling, the facility drab and broken down, but the faces of the “guests” and workers are full of hope.
What does the Mission do exactly? They provide breakfast six days a week, dinner 365 nights of the year, food baskets for families in need who are unable to come to the mission, sleeping accommodations for emergency situations, a place to store belongings, a message board to post telephone messages for guests, mailing address for government checks, clothing for those in need, a place to shave and shower, and a day room during the cold months.
But their mission involves far more than just feeding the temporal needs of their guests and neighbors. They offer a “New Life” recovery program that has become the life blood of the mission.
Chris Bean, who has worked at the Rescue Mission for over a year, sat down with me and talked about how people get into the “New Life” program. “You must pass a couple of interviews. Oh it’s not too hard to pass,” Chris said. “We just want to make sure they are ready and committed to changing their life.” After all there is only one thing you have to change for recovery… and that is everything.
Frank is a large man, who would be very intimidating, if he didn’t wear such a warm smile. “I come here way back last September with nothing but 16 cents in my pockets. Now I’m working, I’m driving a truck everyday and I got a place to live. But before that I had no place to live, didn’t know where I was gonna sleep at, you know day by day. But I got tired of living on the streets -- come a time where I’d just had enough, so I put God back in my life.” Big Frank nods his head, hope gleaming from his eyes, “Things are looking up for me.”
Greg is another great story, he entered the New Life program last August. “I hit rock bottom, was in jail, and after almost thirty years of addition, I’m only 38, I knew I had to do something. I was desperate, my own thinking was not working. I had to do something. Now I have a year and six days clean. Never had that before.” Greg’s new job is driving a big bread truck, delivering to groceries stores around the Salt Lake valley. But not only is he working outside the facility, he also convinced his employer to donate the left over bread to the mission. So first he needed and received the manna from heaven and now he helps distribute it. The rescue mission has done well in installing this servant attitude in its New Life graduates.
Executive Director and Pastor Chris Crosswhite talks about the services they render, “As the Mission handles more guests and the waiting list for our New Life (Recovery) Program grows longer, we praise God for giving us the opportunity to share His redemptive message with broken people who need spiritual nourishment as much as they need food, shelter and clothing.”
Yes the old building is a little bit broken down, but that’s ok. After all the Rescue Mission is all about restoring the broken.
http://www.rescuesaltlake.org/
http://www.rescuesaltlake.org/spiritual-training
