For some people, having the ability to afford the necessities of life can be a hard road to conquer. Especially during a transitional stage in life when you’re trying to make all the pieces fit. The homeless people that enter the doors of the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM) need help regaining their independence. The backgrounds of our clients run the gamut from drug addicts and alcoholics to laid-off workers to ex-convicts to senior citizens and “working homeless” families. Since everyone’s journey to our ministries is different, we provide a variety of solutions to help reintegrate them back into the community. Our main goal is to give them a future.
We have partnered with Wayne County Community College District, Wayne State University and University of Michigan-Dearborn to equip our clients with the educational and vocational skills needed to compete in the workforce. As they travel their own personal path of restoration and recovery, they can obtain valuable skills such as secretarial and customer service training, Web design, electrical wiring, auto repair, video production and landscape training. Many of our clients graduate from our programs and find full-time employment right away or they choose to continue their education.
“April,” a former drug-addicted prostitute, received a certificate of completion and college credit after finishing WCCCD’s customer service training course at DRMM. “We’re learning what our employers expect from us as an employee and how we can move ahead,” she says. “When you’re using (drugs) you don’t think you’re going to amount to anything, you know, and it does seem hopeless; it seems like I’m never going to be able to get ahead and now I have the opportunity to go to school, to get a good job and my life isn’t over, it’s just beginning.”
As a Christian-based organization, it’s our duty to provide food, shelter and treatment for the homeless. But you must still give people the skills that will keep them from reverting to their old lifestyles. We invest in their future by providing the job training and skills necessary to sustain themselves. He or she becomes a better person and a productive citizen in the community. And what does it cost them? Nothing but the willingness to come to DRMM and a willingness to change.