The roots of our
New Life Program go back to the early 1800’s. By 1878 in Philadelphia the
Sunday Breakfast Association had begun holding meetings on Sunday to provide
food and inexpensive lodging for men who
by reason of drink, out of work, out of situation,
out of money, out of friends, out of home, away from God, driven from pillar to
post, ordered by the police to ‘move on’, and never a kind word of
encouragement from anyone; every day finds their personal appearance worse,
their very condition debars them from getting even a job to white-wash a
cellar; dirty, ragged and forlorn, disheartened and in despair they are
pitiable objects indeed, and yet some of them, in spite of their poverty, keep
themselves clean, neat and tolerably respectable in appearance. (Andrew Bonner, Enacted Christianity,
pg. 48.)
The foundation
for our New Life Program came from Waterfront Rescue Mission in Pensacola,
Florida. When I left there having finished my internship, I brought a lot of
documentation that was given to me by their Program Director, Bill Rogers.
There were policies and procedures for their long term recovery program, their
emergency shelter and for their thrift store operations. From all of this
information, I began to build our program.
Another
source of information comes from the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions
(AGRM) office. They have a large supply of resource material for programs,
administration, thrift stores, personnel and many more subjects. Their guide
“Starting A Rescue Mission: A How-To Manual” written by Michael J. Greer was
very helpful. AGRM provides annual meetings with program workshops and
opportunities to speak with other directors.
Earl
Vautin, director of the Water Street Mission in New York City, describes his
program to hold men for as long as possible while teaching how Jesus Christ can
transform them.
No effort is made to push him out. To the contrary,
every effort is made to slow him down and keep him long enough so that whatever
seeds are planted have time to take root. However, a man is not allowed to sit
back and drift. In interviews with the counselors, who are familiar with the
evasive tactics of the men who come to the mission, inner conflicts are brought
closer to the surface. Whatever excuses a man has used to paper over his
troubles are held up to him for what they are. Eventually, a man is expected to
face the truth about himself. Often, when the probing comes too close to his
real trouble, the man walks out to return to the Bowery or is never seen again.
The attrition rate is high. The mission could easily keep a man longer by
putting less of an emphasis on religion or by relaxing some of its other rules.
It could also serve a far larger number of men by limiting itself to transients
and serving free food to all comers several times a day. This could be
justified as elemental Christian charity. It would result in impressive
statistics regarding the number of men served and perhaps make it easier to
raise funds. But few, if any, men would be rehabilitated either socially or
spiritually. (Enacted Christianity,
pg. 66)