Monday, March 31, 2008

Upcoming Cross Path Topics

If you don't get a chance to here it on the air, listen on the web

Mon -31

Did you ever feel lost?

Tue - 1

Have you ever thought God abandoned you?

Wed - 2

Why is Scripture Amazing?

Thu - 3

What is that “Ah Hah” moment in the chapel

Fri - 4

Is Heart Burn Biblical?

Friday, March 28, 2008

The Road To Emmaus

This week's Crosspath topic is "The Road to Emmaus". If you didn't catch it on air, you can listen online.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Serving a Meal at the Mission

Here's one volunteer's recent experience serving a meal at the mission. We thought we'd share it:
What an incredible weekend we had! Friday afternoon our Sunday school class headed to the Charlotte Rescue Mission where we cooked and served the men there a yummy meal. It was so powerful for me! I had no clue that this place was a rehab center, I thought it was a homeless shelter, and then I thought for some reason that all of the men there would be Christians......wrong.
Read the rest of the story on her blog.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Easter 2008 at the Mission

Here's some news coverage from WSOC on Easter Sunday 2008:
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Rescue Mission on W. 1st Street in Uptown has been busy all morning preparing hot meals for its guests this Easter Sunday.

Executive Director of the Charlotte Rescue Mission Rev. Tony Marciano said, "We make coming to the Rescue Mission on Easter Sunday as special as going to your grandmother's house."

Breakfast started as early as 6 a.m., followed by a continental breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Then a traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings will be served between 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Volunteers from the Journey Church really went out of their way this year to provide a special experience by wearing uniforms typically seen in fine dining restaurants. And all tables are set with china and Oneida glassware.

Other Easter activities at the Rescue Mission include showing movies throughout the day. And new this year, free cell phones from Sprint Cingular phone service will be available for guests to call friends and family members.
Read the whole thing here.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Another Succesful Hope Totes Campaign



We'd like to extend our deepest gratitude to all of those who helped make this years Hope Totes campaign a huge success.

Above we have volunteer coordinator Andria Tindall and Scottish Bank's Kiki Koutsokalis (Retail Branch Administrator).

Scottish Bank partnered with us again in 2008 to provide drop off locations for the Hope Totes. A special thanks goes out to Scottish Bank president John Stedman.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

New Certification for a Counselor

Charlotte Rescue Mission & the Rebound Staff would like to congratulate our Therapeutic Recreation Counselor, Reggie Lee who has just successfully completed his oral exam and is now a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor (CSAC).

Reggie works with our clients during their program to teach them how to use recreational time productively instead of reverting to drugs or alcohol. Now this vital part of our ministry will be even more effective. Congratulations Reggie!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Desserts Needed for Easter

Charlotte Rescue Mission is providing an Easter Community Dinner on Sunday, March 23, 2008. We are in need of homemade desserts to serve our homeless neighbors in the area. Anyone wanting to share a family treasured dessert can drop them off at the Charlotte Rescue Mission information desk up until Easter Sunday at 10am.

The address is 907 W. 1st street Charlotte, NC 28233, diagonally opposite the Panthers practice field off of Cedar. To reach us by phone please call 704-334-4635
“We make coming to the Rescue Mission on Easter Sunday as special as going to your grandmother’s house” says Rev. Tony Marciano, Executive Director of the Charlotte Rescue Mission.
It all begins with a hot breakfast from 6:00 – 7:30am. A continental breakfast will be served from 8:00 to 11:00 am, followed by our traditional turkey dinner with all the fixings, including our delicious homemade desserts, served between 11:30 and 2:30pm. There will be movies shown during the day. Cell phone will be available for guests to use.
In addition, our dinner guests will be treated like royalty” says Marciano. “Volunteers will be dressed in white shirts, black pants or skirts to resemble fine dining wait staff. Our guests will be served with heaping portions of food on china, while using silverware and Oneida glass ware, all on a table cloth. There will also be a cloth napkin, folded in a fan, coming from the glass. It resembles a wedding reception.
The 6am hot breakfast will consist of scrambled eggs, grits, sausage patties, biscuits, orange juice and coffee. Volunteers from Journey Church are preparing and providing the meal.

This Easter, the Charlotte Rescue Mission has been supplied with the use of free cell phones from Sprint cellular phone service. These cell phones are used by the guests to call home to family and friends.
I’ve heard guests call home and say, “Mom, I’m ok. I’m at the Charlotte Rescue Mission”” says Marciano.
The midday meal will consist of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, yam, dressing, cranberry sauce and dessert. 112 turkeys are being prepared for the meal. The Easter meal is open to the public. In addition to the homeless, the Mission opens its doors to anyone who wants to celebrate Easter in a family setting.

Charlotte Rescue mission provides a free 90-day Christian residential program for men and women who are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol and are predominately homeless.

Times:
Hot breakfast 6:00 am to 7:30am.
Continental breakfast 8:00 am to 11: am
Easter Dinner 11:30 to 2:30
Movies 6:00 am to 3:00 pm
Cell phones 9:00am to 3:00pm

Where: 907 W 1st Street Charlotte, NC 28233
Diagonally opposite the Panther Practice Fields


Thursday, March 13, 2008

Dove's Nest Continuing Care Division

In 2001, we had to discontinue Dove's Nest aftercare program due to lack of funding. Now thanks to generous donors across the Charlotte region and the partnership of St. John's Baptist Church, we are set to re-open! This will give women the opportunity to continue developing life skills after they complete the Dove's Nest program. It can be most readily pictured as a "stepping-stone" back into society.

How can you help out? Dove's Nest Continuing Care Division is now registered at Target baby registry. Consider purchasing an item or two to help us get this project off the ground. Or if you'd like to volunteer or just want to learn more about Dove's Nest, call Andria at 704-334-4635 x214.

Volunteers Still Needed

We still need about 50 volunteers for Easter Sunday which is quickly approaching. Please prayerfully consider volunteering just a few hours of your time on Sunday to share God's love with those in need. Call Andria at 704-334-4635 x214 for more information or to volunteer.

Here's Our Video From Last Year.



*Update - Thanks for the great response, we have enough volunteers now!*

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

New Contributors for CRM's Blog

Later this month, Charlotte Rescue Mission's Rebound Staff will begin contributing to the blog as well. Rebound is the men's recovery program for Charlotte Rescue Mission. Our counselors are all professionally certified substance abuse counselors and will have some excellent insight to share with our readers. In the future, we hope to have contributions from Dove's Nest (our women's program) staff as well.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Crosspath Update

Crosspath, Rev. Marciano's daily radio broadcast, is changing times on WMIT. Instead of 9:25 PM, Crosspath can now be heard at 8:25 PM on WMIT. Of course, all of the Crosspath shows are available on the web.

Here are the upcoming topics for the weeks of March 10th and 17th:

Day

Date

Transition Question

Mon

3-10

What is an IBM card?

Tue

3-11

Are the clients I see at CRM the real self?

Wed

3-12


Were Christians ever perfect?

Thu

3-13

What is one of your favorite verses?

Fri

3-14

Can we change by merely wishing change

to be?

Mon

3-17

Can we change others?

Tue

3-18

Is crying over what could have been a good idea?

Wed

3-19

What is that hymn you loved to sing?

Thu

3-20

Is having “fun” ok

Fri

3-21

Can people change?

Friday, March 7, 2008

Easter Sunday

Easter Sunday is one of our outreaches to the community. The day begins with breakfast and continues with opportunities for our guests to use cell phones or watch movies. At our noon day meal, they will be treated like “royalty”. Volunteers, dressed in white shirts and black pants will serve them. China and glassware will be used. At 3pm, when I turn off the movies, some will become teary eyed when it all comes to an end. For the first time in a long time, they have felt loved and respected.

Here's our video from last year's Easter:



The 200,000 meals per year you help provide are just part of the story. It’s about the man in our Rebound men’s program who realizes that God loved him and went from sitting in back of the class to the front. It’s about the woman in our Dove’s Nest program who returned home with the tools to stay clean and sober.

The miracle at Calvary is still changing lives daily.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Volunteers Needed for Easter Dinner

Every year, Charlotte Rescue Mission opens their doors to hundreds of Charlotte's homeless men and women for their Easter meal. We still need volunteers to help us serve this year.

We invite individuals, couples and families to join us and celebrate Easter Sunday. The Mission will open to the public from 6:00 a.m. on Easter and stay open for guests until 2:30 p.m. The morning will begin with a hot breakfast from 6:00 am until 7:30 am. Coffee and Danish will be available from 8:00 am until 11:00 am. Movies will be shown in our chapel beginning at 6:00 a.m. The main dinner meal will be served from 11:30 until 2:30 pm. Cell phones provided by Sprint will be available from 8:30-2:30 so guest can make long distance calls to friend and family.

Please be aware that this event is not a typically “feeding of the homeless holiday meal.” Our goal is to treat our guests as VIPs; they will be seated at their table, use china, glasses and silverware, and be waited on as if they were in an expensive restaurant. There will be a more laid back, casual atmosphere for the hot breakfast. All volunteers will be on their feet and moving the entire length of their assigned shift. If you are not physically able to handle this amount of activity, please let us know. Please eat and use the facilities before your shift begins or after your shift is over. We are expecting a capacity filled crowd and can not afford to have volunteers leave their position.

Volunteer Shift Times: Volunteers will work in one of two shifts. The first shift runs from 10:30 AM until 1:30 PM. Volunteers from the second shift will relieve the first shift at 1:00 pm. Volunteers are welcome to eat after they complete their assignment. The second shift runs from 12:30 PM until 3:30 pm. We will have a few people work an early shift from 8:30 am until 11:00 am with the cell phones and Chapel supervisors.

Volunteer Registration Process

• Choose your shift: 8-11 am 10:30 – 1:30pm or 12:30 – 3:30pm
• Contact Andria Tindall at 704 334-4635 ext. 214 or email andria_t@charlotterescuemission.org to reserve your spot
• All volunteers are required to attend a 30 minute orientation on Easter Sunday