Miracles

Let me tell you about a miracle.

In addition to the hundreds of meals and nights of safe shelter our donors provide, their gifts are changing lives. I heard it from a former client. I ran into him in the church parking lot. He greeted me and told me it had been over 18 months since he finished the Mission’s Rebound program. No one in church that Sunday knew that just over a year ago, the streets had been his life. It is through the generous support of our donors that that he is able to make that chapter of his life a part of his past.

Just like him, there are hundreds of men and women who have graduated from the Mission, whose life has been forever changed because someone cared.

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.

Rev. Billy Graham's Letter

Many of you probably already know that Franklin Graham, father of evangelist Billy Graham, was one of Charlotte Rescue Mission's founders in 1938.

In honor of our 70th year, Rev. Billy Graham has written a letter acknowledging his father's involvement. Our newsletter contains the letter so if you are on our mailing list, you've probably already seen it. If not, click here to request a free copy of the letter.

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:

Dedication of the Pavilion

On November 11, 2008 we dedicated our new pavilion area at our main campus located in uptown Charlotte. This pavilion was made possible by the Carolina Panthers, Al & Judy Oldja, Jerry & Lynn Swisshelm, Concrete Supply Co and Shelco Inc. Below you can see a video of this dedication and a before and after photo.

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.