The ONE thing Gilbert couldn’t fix alone . . .

The ONE thing Gilbert couldn’t fix alone . . .

Posted in: March 2019 Newsletter, Stories

March
19

Gilbert is one of those people who can fix anything, and he enjoys the work.

But when his employer lost the contract on the facility they were building, life fell apart fast. “They lost their contract and I lost my townhouse, car, everything.”

Gilbert had never experienced hunger or homelessness before in his life.

“It was a shock. I’ve worked for 45 years and never had to depend on anybody but me. And I would help anybody in need because it’s the right thing to do,” he says. “I ended up coming to Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM), because I couldn’t pay for a motel room anymore.”

Like thousands of other men and women who come through the Mission doors each day, Gilbert received a good hot meal and safe place to stay.

Our staff also prayed with and for Gilbert and explained that DRMM is a place to rebuild broken lives through the love of Christ.

Your compassionate gifts not only helped Gilbert in his time of need, but inspired him to pay it forward and help others. His life is nothing like it was and his faith is renewed—all thanks to caring friends and donors like YOU!

Will you make a gift now to provide meals and new beginnings for other people in your community who are in great need this Easter season?

Give Now
Andrew—A Life YOU Transformed

Andrew—A Life YOU Transformed

Posted in: March 2019 Newsletter, Stories

March
19

When we first met Andrew, he had lost everything. His marriage, job, car, savings. And all hope.

Desperate to rebuild all that was broken in his life, he followed the counsel of a friend who said Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM) is a place where new beginnings happen every day. He took a train that got him as far as Ann Arbor, but from there he walked all the way to the Mission!

Andrew shared, “I had heard that DRMM is really good at helping people, so I came here.”

He went on to say, “I did a lot of praying that I could find a place to stay and a place to eat. That I could start over and succeed. See, I had a great job in Chicago. I ran two bagel stores, and worked about 70 hours a week,” he says. “I went from being on top of the world all the way to the bottom in a month. I lost everything in the divorce.

Andrew’s greatest encouragement though has been his renewed faith in God.

“I know God’s on my side,” he says.

I want you to know that today, Andrew is feeling focused and renewed because of YOU. Your gifts helped turn his life around! Within just a few weeks of arrival, he had already received a managerial job offer at another bagel store and is planning carefully to regain his independence.

Andrew says his new philosophy is Philippians 4:13. “’I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ It’s what I live by.”

Every $1.95 meal you give now can open the door to another transformed life, like Andrew’s! Please partner with us to bring hope and healing when it’s needed most!

Give Now

 

Haley wondered, “What’s going to happen to me and my baby? How will we survive?”

Haley wondered, “What’s going to happen to me and my baby? How will we survive?”

Posted in: March 2019 Newsletter, Stories

March
19

Being homeless is terrifying for anyone, but for a young mother and her baby it can be deadly!

“I didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Haley shared, with tears in her eyes.

“My daughter and I had been staying with my sister, but things didn’t happen as planned. We were crowding her family so I had to find somewhere else, somewhere safe for my baby to sleep.”

Thankfully, friends introduced Haley to Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM) and that has made all the difference for this frightened mother!

“Now that we’re here, my daughter is making new friends and going to school. Staying here has been a huge help. I’m able to save money and they’re helping us get into a place of our own. I’m looking forward to completing my education and looking for work,” Haley says with new-found confidence.

“My long-term goal is to become a chef, perhaps even open a restaurant of my own,” she says. “What I really hope and pray for is to have a stable home and be a good mother. I want to do the best I can for my daughter and the programs at DRMM are helping me do that.”

Your gift today will help more homeless families and individuals find emergency food and shelter, just like Haley and her daughter have! Please make a gift now to help your neighbors in need!

Give Now

 

Many of us believe there’s no way we could ever be hungry and homeless.

Posted in: Stories

February
21

But just how easy can it all slip away? Ask Daniel.*

He never dreamed there would come a day when he would feel the pain of hunger. He’d worked since he was 17 years old, and had even donated to organizations that help others who are in need.

But then came the terrible day when Daniel came through the doors here at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM). He was hungry, had no job, no home, and nowhere else to turn for help.

“I can’t believe it,” Daniel said. “This is what my life has come down to.”

Caring friends of DRMM provided the $1.95 meal Daniel needed so desperately. Then our staff prayed with him. After a while he opened up about the job he’d loved—and lost. He described his desperate hunt for a new job, any job. And his horror at how quickly his savings dwindled, then disappeared entirely.

Daniel said he’d lost all hope that life could ever be good again. But as we talked over that good hot meal, we shared about Christ’s promise of new life, His infinite mercy and love, and how DRMM is just the place for a new beginning in life—especially at Easter!

Support from caring friends and donors helped give Daniel food, a safe place to sleep, and the life-changing job and educational counseling that would help him earn the certifications he needed to return to his career in healthcare.

Today, Daniel is overjoyed to be working again in his field. He has an apartment of his own, and even found the courage to rekindle relationships with family members. “I’d always been the person in the family everyone leaned on for support. To be out of work over a year was hard,” he says.

“When I lost my job, lost everything, I just kind of dropped off. They didn’t even know where I was.”

This Easter, Daniel will not be hungry, homeless, or jobless. But so many other individuals and families are in need of help and hope now . . .

Between now and Easter Sunday, more than 105,000 people will come to DRMM, hoping for a hot meal and the chance to be restored, forgiven, and begin again.

Please give generously now to reach people like Daniel who are hungry, frightened, and battling homelessness, joblessness, or addiction. Your gift of meals could make all the difference to our neighbors who are in great need!

Give meals now!

 

*Name changed

Can a $1.95 meal really save and change a life? Ask James!

Posted in: Latest News, Stories, Testimonials

February
5

James has lived and worked in Detroit all his life. He has a wide range of skills that helped him excel at work, and he even started a company of his own at one point.

But after some toxic relationships and a few difficult years, James ended up on the wrong path. Before long, he’d lost everything—his livelihood, savings, and home.

He turned to his friends and slept on couches or in a spare room. But those relationships soured quickly and then James was forced to live on our city streets where hopelessness consumed him.

“It was like I dropped in a hole and kept going, deeper and deeper. I slept in abandoned buildings, cars, and houses,” James says. “That was rock bottom.”

Your support helped give James food and shelter at DRMM, plus the thing he wanted most in life—the chance to renew his faith.

James says that when his relationship with God was restored, everything else fell quickly into place.

Today, he’s on the right path—clean and sober. He’s looking for work and an apartment of his own. He’s also going back to school to complete his education. “I’ve been on the Dean’s list every semester,” he says with a smile.

“It’s all about my faith,” he says. “I’m making good decisions today, because I know that if I do the right thing good things will come.”

In the weeks leading up to Easter, many other women and men like James will turn to DRMM hoping for a meal and the chance for a new life.

DRMM is committed to never turning away anyone who is in need, but we need your help now to share meals and hope with your neighbors who are hungry, hurting, and without hope.

So please keep James in your prayers as he sets out to claim the new life Jesus wishes for him to have . . . and help another lost and broken soul by giving the gift of meals. Every $1.95 you give provides meals and the tools and encouragement for a new beginning in life!

Please let me hear from you right away! And thank you for sharing your blessings with neighbors who are desperate for help and hope this Easter season.

Give Meals Now!

Harsh Weather Further Tests Generosity of Michiganders …

Posted in: From Dr. Chad Audi

January
30

If there is a phraseology that best captures the attitude of fellow Michiganders when the going gets tough, it is perhaps Ralph Waldo Emerson’s maxim that “difficulties exist to be surmounted.”

Michiganders don’t run away from tough challenges. Rather, they confront them with their can-do spirit.

We saw that spirit during the historic Detroit bankruptcy and we are seeing it in the ongoing comeback of the city.

So, when weather experts warned that the Polar Vortex would hit parts of the US so hard this week, and that the weather would be so cold here in Michigan that people would suffer frost bite or even death if they stayed outside, I was sure the people of Michigan would do all in their power to protect precious lives.

I was also sure I would have a “coalition of the willing” in ensuring that nobody is allowed to get frost bitten or die prematurely on the streets of Detroit when there are warming centers and shelters at their disposal.

In weather emergencies like this, the transient and chronically homeless men, women and children we at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (https://drmm.org) have served diligently since our founding in 1909 are at great risk. But persuading some of them to take advantage of our free and friendly services is not always easy.

Right now, we have over 450 persons in our male and female warming centers and shelters but we can still accommodate up to 100 more, using our cots and chairs, in keeping with our policy of never turning away anybody in need.

Also, we have opened a command center at our 3535 Third Street Detroit campus from where we dispatch two vans with experienced drivers and case managers to pick up homeless persons anywhere in Detroit.

But as was the case in previous weather emergencies, our street outreach teams are reporting that some homeless persons refuse their overtures to follow them to the warming centers, despite the very dangerous weather.

The law forbids us from forcing them to follow us to our warming centers and shelters but we will continue to go back to their sit-out locations and persuade them.

We strongly believe it is always better to stay in a warming center than to be out there in the life-threatening cold. And we make every effort to ensure that our warming centers are friendly and fun. The clients can watch TV, eat good and healthy food, get winter coats, hats and gloves, have hot shower and sleep in their own beds (or cots). They can also enjoy the professional attention and care of our case managers, if they so desire.

Please, join me in thanking all the wonderful individuals, families, groups and businesses that have called to inform us of where to pick homeless persons.

Can you imagine that we receive about 200 phone calls a day? That’s a clear indication that people really care.

Others volunteer their valuable time or send us much-needed checks.

Yes, Michiganders are tougher than any tough situation. They are also remarkably generous. I know this because I lead a nonprofit organization that depends a lot on their compassion and generosity to meet the needs of the over 2200 persons that turn to us each day for help at our various locations in 5 Michigan counties.

From youth volunteers that beam with infectious zeal to senior citizens that donate regularly, we get the extraordinary encouragement and support we need to help homeless, hungry and hurting persons get the life-changing services they so desperately need to become change agents in our communities.

This week alone, help has come from the length and breadth of Michigan.

Let me specifically mention Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services and Strategic Staffing Solutions that have kindly given cash donations as well as the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department and the Wayne County Executive Command Center that are providing technical support in our street outreach to homeless persons.

We are indeed grateful to all.

If you would like to be among those supporting our efforts to ensure that nobody is allowed to get frost bite or die on the streets of Detroit in this dangerous weather, please call 313-993-4700 or visit https://drmm.org/donate/ now to make a tax-deductible donation.

God bless you for being your brother’s and sister’s keeper.