Volunteers Serve Easter at the Mission

From WSOC:

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Volunteers spent Easter morning in the kitchen, cooking up breakfast at the Charlotte Rescue Mission.

The agency is holding an all-day Easter Extravaganza for the community.

The event kicked off at 6 a.m. Sunday with breakfast at the agency’s building located on the corner of Cedar Street and West First Street.

See the rest of the article and video here. News 14 also had a video and story which can be found here.

Baking Instead of Bullying

Over 120 students and staff members of University Park Elementary school contributed to our Thanksgiving day feast by baking about 200 dessert items as a part of "Bullying Prevention Week". Charlotte Observer has the story:

“Our staff decided that we would observe Bullying Prevention Week by teaching students how they should treat others,” said Carrie Sargent, school psychologist at University Park, a performing arts magnet school off Beatties Ford Road in northwest Charlotte.

Read the whole story here.

Volunteers Serve on Thanksgiving Day

News 14 Carolina published the following story regarding the volunteer servers on Thanksgiving day:

CHARLOTTE – Although the Charlotte Rescue Mission has been serving meals for the past 70 years, volunteers pulled out all the stops Thursday for a special Thanksgiving.

About 30 employees from the Dilworth Neighborhood Grille worked in the kitchen cooking and in the dining room serving.

"We're actually bringing tableside service so people can have the opportunity to order eggs however they want and actually pick off a small menu," Chris Alves, of the Dilworth Neighborhood Grille, said.

Read the whole article here.

Thanksgiving at the Mission

Not everyone gets a chance to come down to the mission for a holiday so many of our supporters don't know what it's like. Last year, we broke a record for number of meals served in one day and we expect to break it again this year. Here is a video we made last year to share what it is like:

Cold Weather Affecting Local Shelters

The Charlotte Observer posted this story today on the recent cold weather and its effect on local homeless shelters.

Officials opened the Emergency Winter Shelter near uptown in October – a month earlier than previous years – to help homeless men escape the cold.

One night earlier this week, the shelter served more than 300 meals – the largest number ever on a non-holiday.

The average number of meals served at the shelter has jumped to 225 a night from 165 two years ago, said Tony Marciano, executive director of the Charlotte Rescue Mission, which provides for the shelter.

If you include the meals at Rebound & Dove's Nest, the number we served was actually over 700 meals that day.

We Need Turkey & Ham For Thanksgiving

On Thanksgiving day, our doors will open to hundreds of homeless and destitute men and women who have nowhere else to celebrate this holiday. They won't stand in line to receive a bowl of soup though - they'll be seated by a volunteer maitre d' at a table covered with white linen and folded napkins. They'll be served by volunteers who'll bring them a warm plate of food, a cold drink and a home made dessert. Maybe for the first time in their life, they'll feel like a VIP guest.

Here's where we need your help... Our low meal cost of just $1.92 is made possible by volunteers and donated food. We plan to cook 120 turkeys and 80 hams for Thanksgiving day alone! Please consider donating a full turkey or ham for our Thanksgiving dinner anytime between now and November 21st. These can be dropped off at our main location at 907 West First St.

First of 200,000 Meals

On October 1st, the Emergency Winter Shelter (managed by Charlotte Rescue Mission) opened its doors to provide emergency services for Charlotte's homeless. Throughout its 6 month operation, Charlotte Rescue Mission will provide about 80% of the meals to be served there which means our daily meals will increase from 400 to 600.

Over the course of a year, we will serve about 200,000 meals and October 1st is just the beginning. Check out this coverage and video from WBTV News Channel 3.

Summer of Hope

While most of us associate summer with carefree days of rest and relaxation, there’s no vacation from homelessness here in the Charlotte area. Every day, all year long, the struggle to survive continues. And street life under the summer sun can bring additional health risks--from lack of water or food spoilage.

Here at Charlotte Rescue Mission, we need help from the entire community as we kick off our "Summer of Hope" campaign for 2008. As you may know, our program beds stay full whether it's December or July. Click here to see how you can get involved.

Rebound's Pre-Program

Most of our supporters know that our program beds stay full year round. Some wonder what happens when someone wants to be admitted to our program when we don't have the space. We have an area we call "pre-program". There are 13 beds in the pre-program area where men can wait for one of our 134 men's program beds to open up. When a person decides that they're ready to make a change in their life, it is imperative to get them off the streets and away from negative influences as soon as possible. Our pre-program area allows this to happen.

The other day, I walked by and saw five or six men huddled around a small table. I looked on and saw that they were playing Monopoly. I had to smile... just a day or two ago these men were on the streets and their only idea of entertainment was using drugs or alcohol. Now not only were they sober, but they were passionately enjoying something you or I might take for granted - a simple board game. This is the start of their new life - a life that doesn't depend on substances for fulfillment.

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.

Charlotte Region's Growth Strains Homeless Service Providers

From the Charlotte Observer:

Since 2000 an average of 39,000 people a year have moved into Mecklenburg County from out of state; 20,000 from another N.C. county; and 6,400 from overseas, the American Community Survey reports.In 10 years, the county's population will jump to 1.3 million from roughly 900,000, the Charlotte Chamber estimates.

No one knows exactly how many newcomers are poor or jobless, but a UNC Charlotte analysis of government statistics suggests "a lot of newcomers are poor, come here seeking opportunities and don't find them," said Jeff Michael, director the university's Urban Institute, which compiled the report.

The study found the percentage of people living in poverty in Mecklenburg County rose to about 11.3 percent in 2005 compared with 9.2 percent in 2000.

...

At the Salvation Army homeless shelter for women near uptown, officials tracked how many people sought shelter who had been in Mecklenburg less than one year. They found more than 1 in 4 clients were newcomers from July 2006 through June 2007.

Last week, 205 women and their children slept at the 200-bed facility. Some 50 other clients spent the night at a local church.

To ease crowding, administrators recently decided they will not admit anyone who is not a resident of Mecklenburg or neighboring counties, except in cases of domestic violence.

"We get dozens of calls each day asking if we have space," said Deronda Metz, director of social services for the Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte. "If the call is from a noncounty resident, we say no."

The number of homeless children attending Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools jumped to more than 2,200 in 2007 from roughly 1,900 a year earlier, said Peter Safir, director of the Homeless Services Network, a coalition of local social outreach agencies.

Not Enough Beds for Charlotte's Homeless

The Observer recently ran this article on the emergency bed shortage in Charlotte:

The temperature dropped as the sun sank Sunday, and dozens of men hunched in the cold outside Charlotte's Emergency Winter Shelter, waiting for the door to open at 6 p.m.

Winter is the bleakest season for Charlotte's homeless people. The cold may have caught up with one man earlier Sunday.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers found the body in a drugstore parking lot off Freedom Drive a little after 7, just before the morning cold dipped to its low of 24 degrees. Officers were familiar with the man, who they said was possibly homeless. A medical examiner, who could not be reached Sunday, will determine the cause of death.

Charlotte's low Sunday night was expected to plunge to 13 degrees. That would make it the coldest night so far this winter.

The deaths by exposure of three homeless men in 1981 prompted Charlotte to open the emergency shelter, which now operates in a former warehouse on Statesville Avenue.

But while social workers estimate that 5,000 to 8,000 people are homeless in Mecklenburg County on any given night, fewer than 2,000 shelter beds exist.

The men waiting outside Sunday told stories of lost jobs, old injuries, dead wives and burned apartments. Most didn't want to be quoted by their full names.

Surviving the streets in winter, they said, is a matter of constant motion to stay warm, seeking warm niches where they can and trying not to arouse attention.

"We go down to the transit (center) or walk up and down" the streets, said a 42-year-old chef named Craig. "Because they don't want us here before 4 p.m."

Craig wore a toboggan under a sweatshirt hood. His body bulged under two jackets and a heavy wool shirt.

Four p.m. is when the shelter opens its gates, allowing men to line up outside the building. They complain that they were forced to stand in rain and snow Saturday. They point out the suitcases, duffel bags and garbage bags, stuffed with belongings, that they keep stashed behind a storage bin.

"That's all we have in our life," said Bobby B, 49 and an Army vet, angrily poking a frozen pair of jeans with the metal cane he carries for a leg injury.

Director John White says staffing dictates when the doors must open and close -- the shelter is authorized to house 200 men a night, and often overflows to a nearby church. On Saturday night, in the snow, the door opened about 5:45 p.m., he said. Men are sometimes allowed to stay past the 6 a.m. closing if snow and ice are on the ground, he said.

The Salvation Army's shelter for women and children housed 205 people Saturday night, including 60 families, but allows them to stay during the day. An overflow shelter held another 50.

Winter "is terrible for women and children," said Deronda Metz, the Army's Charlotte director of social services. "They've been instructed not to turn anybody away."

The number of women in need continues to rise, regardless of the weather, she said.

Charlotte Rescue Mission operates the Emergency Winter Shelter and provides most of their food.

Christmas Shopping for the Homeless

Shopping can be a very difficult thing. I have found that the gifts homeless people want are both simple and complicated items. The simple things they crave are safe shelter, hot meals and clean clothing. The difficult thing they so desperately need is to walk away from the streets. At Charlotte Rescue Mission, both gifts are given to our clients.

One client, who recently finished our Rebound men’s program was so grateful for the opportunity Charlotte Rescue Mission gave him. For 90 days, he addressed the things that for too long, had made the streets his home. In addition, he spent years in jail. He came to me on his last day in the program, showing me his completion certificate. His smile went all the way around his face. I have never seen anyone so happy. Then, he looked at me and said, “This is just the beginning”. He was ready for the next chapter in his life.

Each year, there are hundreds of stories of lives like his that are changed.

New Study Says 1 out of 4 Homeless are Veterans

WASHINGTON - Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday.

And homelessness is not just a problem among middle-age and elderly veterans. Younger veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are trickling into shelters and soup kitchens seeking services, treatment or help with finding a job.

See the full story here.