The National Center on Family Homelessness estimates 2.5 million children are homeless each year. As the number of homeless families in this country continues to be alarming and of major concern, it’s important that we reach out to children and youth to help prevent the factors that can lead to future homelessness. These causes include poverty, substance abuse, a lack of education and job skills, single parenting, and traumatic experiences.

In order to help keep young people on a positive track, Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM) offers a number of services for the most vulnerable group in our society. Throughout the year, we provide recreation and prevention programs for children. Every summer, we provide a unique camping experience for hundreds of inner city kids at our 240-acre ranch. And, we offer transitional housing for teen mothers and their children — enabling them to finish their education, while learning parenting skills.

Recently, DRMM joined with award-winning author and journalist Mitch Albom, Detroit Lions quarterbackMatthew Stafford, and the City of Detroit to announce funding for the renovation and re-opening of a recreation center that had been shuttered due to budget cuts.

Led by Mitch’s charitable organization, S.A.Y. Detroit, the plan calls for new outdoor athletic fields, an indoor practice facility, and educational and sports programs. As S.A.Y. Detroit’s operating partner, DRMM will help run the center’s activities and oversee the restoration of the facility.

All of us understand the importance of giving children engaging, fun, and educational activities to participate in after school. They need outlets to help stimulate their minds, expend their physical energy, and to keep them from getting distracted by the wrong things. Stafford has pledged to help shape the future of the children who use the recreation center.

That’s what it’s all about — providing kids with a chance to succeed and the opportunity for a brighter future.

Well, it was just a matter of time. We knew the wintry weather was coming, and now it’s here. A crippling blizzard just hit the East Coast and bitter cold temperatures have spread across the entire country over the past month.

This kind of weather sends the nation’s homeless on a desperate search for shelter and a hot meal. And, who can blame them? Men, women and children are flooding homeless shelters throughout the country — filling them to capacity. Ironically, New York City’s annual homeless census had to be postponed because of the historic storm that was forecast for that region.

For organizations like ours, the Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM), It’s important that we not only provide the homeless with a warm respite from the deadly winter weather, but that we also provide them with an opportunity to permanently change their circumstances and get on the road to a new life. Simply giving them a place to warm up and then eventually sending them back out into the cold is counterproductive to their growth and success as valuable citizens.

DRMM is doing what we can to save and rehabilitate lives. We have been around for 106 years. We know how to help the homeless, and we know how to serve them. Shelters, substance abuse treatment, mental health programs, and career training are all very important components in a homeless person’s journey from hopelessness to hope.

We don’t turn anyone away at DRMM, even if we have to put mattresses and blankets on the floor or set up extra chairs so that the homeless can rest and sleep.

For the homeless, winter is all about survival.
For us, it’s always about saving — and changing — lives!