Latest News – Page 40 – Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries

After tragedy claims child’s life, Detroit family gets fresh start

Posted in: In the News, Latest News

March
24

**Originally posted on: Fox 2 Detroit

Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries and Say Detroit have given away more than 30 homes to families in need. The Love-Wilkerson’s are the latest ones and you may agree that this family definitely deserves this fresh start.

Shirley Love and her husband Montez Wilkerson got their first look at their new home on Wednesday. As soon as they walked in to the kitchen, the tears started flowing.

The new home came ten weeks after an early morning fire gutted their house on Bessemore. Their children were forced to jump from a second story window but not everyone survived. Three year-old great-nephew, KJ, was living with them when the fire flared up.

When the fire spread, KJ was trapped inside. A week after the fire, he died from his injuries.

For the past two and a half months, the family has been staying with relatives and were unsure when they would be back on their feet. They got their answer on Wednesday when they got the keys.

“We’re a little banged up but we’re still here. That’s the most important thing. We miss our nephew terribly but I’m just happy that the rest of us is here,” Shirley Love said.

The family is still together and in their new home thanks to the generosity from Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries and Say Detroit. They rehab, furnish, and fill the fridge for families who need a fresh start.

“The one thing we have a good deal of in Detroit are available homes so as long as the city makes it fairly easy to work with and we can refurbish them, we shouldn’t have families out on the street when we have this many empty houses that can be re-worked,” Mitch Albom with Say Detroit said.

“It’s a beautiful thing to see the smile back on somebody who at one point in time lost hope and lost the smile” Chad Audi with Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries said.

Thanks to their generosity, Love, Wilkerson, and their children have found their smiles: 19-year-old Willie Mae is still recovering from a broken leg and surgeries after her jump from the second floor. She offers hope for others trying to get back on their feet.

“You gotta take it one day at a time – but it’s going to get better,” she said.

A Young Man on a Mission

Posted in: March 2016 Newsletter, Stories, Testimonials

February
29

Thirteen-year-old Caleb White has a heart for the homeless

Caleb was just 6 years old when he saw a miserable and bedraggled man huddling against the bitter cold of our city streets. Instantly, he knew he had to do something to help.

Since that day seven years ago, Caleb has partnered with DRMM to personally improve the lives of people who are struggling with homelessness and other challenges. With help from family, friends, classmates, and others, he has distributed care packages full of toiletries and other essentials, and raised money for school backpacks and coats for needy children and adults.

Most recently Caleb launched a monthly game night which he hosts at DRMM’s Genesis House II, a DRMM residence for homeless women and children that provides employment and education services to help families get back on their feet. Through this pizza, soda pop, and board game outreach, Caleb and his cohorts share simple human kindnesses with boys and girls who need some fun in their lives . . . and need to know someone cares.

Game night is important to the kids, says Kisha Woods-Mathis, Director of Genesis House II. “They’ve been through so much. They’ve been hurt. Some have been evicted. Some have dealt with domestic violence,” she says.

For Caleb, his mission is clear: He wants to continue to help those in need and inspire others to do the same. “I just think that I can set an example for other people, so when I’m doing this they can see it and go out in their community and it can spread,” he says. “Everybody just assumes, ‘Oh, they’re homeless because they made bad choices.’ It’s not that way for everyone. A lot of people have stories that are really, really sad.”

Special thanks to Caleb, his family, and friends who do so much to ease the suffering of those in our community who are in need through their outreach, prayers, and ongoing financial support of DRMM!

“We are like family here . . .”

Posted in: March 2016 Newsletter, Stories, Testimonials

February
29

Just a teenager, Ariel was a new mother with no one and no place to turn for help.

When Ariel came through the doors here at Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM), she had just one thing on her mind—the precious little boy in her arms, Jeremiah.

She desperately wanted to leave behind the bad choices she had made—dropping out of high school, drug use, and running wild in the streets. “My baby deserves better than that,” Ariel says.

Most shelters in Greater Detroit are unable to accept women and children, but thanks to support from caring friends and supporters, DRMM is able to provide emergency and longer term care for women like Ariel. So we welcomed this young mother and gave her a safe, warm home where she could begin to rebuild her broken life and prepare herself to raise her son to be everything God intends for Him.

Ariel’s new home came with lots of rules and regular chores, but our staff explained to her that she needed to learn how to care for a baby, a household, her finances, and more, in order to live successfully on her own.

“I’ve learned a lot,” says Ariel. “They’ve taught me discipline, time management, how to be responsible, and they’ve taught me about parenting. Soon I will graduate from high school and begin to live independently.”

Ariel will be the first to tell you that her time at DRMM has been life-changing and possibly even lifesaving. “I want to thank everyone who donates to the Mission,” she says. “I don’t know where I would be without DRMM.

“The staff are so supportive and there for me when I need them,” Ariel says. “We are like a family here and they make me want to be a better person, to finish school, and to be a better parent.”

This happy ending for Ariel and Jeremiah is exactly the outcome DRMM staff pray for each day, and it is the reason behind the Mission’s commitment to helping women and their children who are homeless and in need. With ongoing support from caring friends and donors, other frightened mothers will receive the help they need to get a new beginning in life. On behalf of Ariel, Jeremiah, and so many others, thank you for your prayers and partnership!

Wear Your Determination Hat in 2016

Posted in: From Dr. Chad Audi

January
21

It was just yesterday that I read the heart-warming story of Svante Myrick, the 28-year-old mayor of Ithaca New York.

Being mayor of a mid-sized American city like Ithaca – which is home to Ivy League Cornell University – is no paltry feat. He’s the city’s youngest and first African American mayor since its naming in 1804. But what made his story particularly appealing to me was the fact that this notable achiever used to be homeless.

Myrick was born into lack and misery, and while growing up in New York, poverty kept him company. As a recent upworthy.com profile on him revealed, “After he was born, his mother came home from the hospital to find a red eviction notice tacked to the door. The family slipped in and out of homelessness, living in shelters and spending a few nights sleeping in the car.”

They had to make do with food stamps from the government and free food, shelter and other services from nonprofit organizations like mine.

The future must have looked so bleak for Myrick. Understanding human nature, it is not hard to imagine how some callous individuals must have mocked and maltreated his family. Sadly, some humans tend to cast every poor family in the descriptive dungeon of indolence and ignorance.

But Myrick’s single mother was hard working. She worked a number of jobs to raise her four kids. And the harder she worked, the harder it was for her to make ends meet. Given the living conditions of the family then, it is safe to say there was nothing to suggest Myrick would one day be an alumnus of Cornell University and mayor of Ithaca.

Look at him now – a resplendent reference point in personal transformation. I won’t be surprised if he occupies an elective position in Washington DC in the near future.

His current and future success is traceable to an early realization that change doesn’t grow effortlessly like weeds. He must have realized he had to take his future by storm. What informed my conclusion? He set his eyes on Cornell University and worked four jobs to fund his education there. In my dictionary, that’s called DETERMINATION.

Determination is gender, race, creed, height, weight and social status neutral. Anybody anywhere can be as determined as Myrick – and his is the kind of determination that propels positive action. Positive action is like a good seed planted on the good soil of determination.

So, this year, make sure you always wear your determination hat and never forget that determination without meaningful effort is empty.
Jesse Owens put it best thus, “We all have dreams. But in order to make dreams come into reality, it takes an awful lot of determination, dedication, self-discipline, and effort.”

I agree. Do you? Let’s go.