Even through these months of COVID-19, the Rescue Mission has been partnering with you to change lives. Listening, caring, loving, and giving hope to men and women in the name of Christ is key. Your gifts and prayers have been a foundation and base from which the Mission has reached out to people looking for help. The need is great, and through a multitude of programs, people have found refuge from the streets, a place to recover from hospitalization, an opportunity to build life skills, and a home from which they can begin to work before becoming independent and self-sustaining.
During these past eight months, COVID-19 has presented the Mission with special challenges. We have practiced safety measures as prescribed. When the Mission found it necessary to rent houses for its programs, little did we know that being able to house 8-10 individuals in a house would be a significant benefit during a pandemic.
Each one of our houses is a home where our participants have isolated together, protecting them from the virus.
It has been necessary during these months to quarantine people before entering one of our programs. Our Service Coordinators, who provide counseling and help with goal setting, and our Peer Navigators, who provide transportation and help participants in accomplishing their goals, all work to protect both themselves and our participants.
During COVID-19, the Mission staff has also been busy with Project Room Key. It is a state/county program in which the Rescue Mission is a partner to provide care and supervision for people coming from the streets to find shelter and safety in motel rooms. Some of the people in this program are in quarantine from testing positive for COVID-19.
During these past few months, construction has begun on three acres of our new five-acre campus, Village of Hope, One block south of the Merced County Fair Grounds a new 32-bed facility for Hope Respite Care and two apartment buildings, one for Veterans who are experiencing homelessness and one for families with young children who are experiencing homelessness. Commercial Construction Company of Merced is the contractor, and Golden Valley Engineering of Merced is the architect and engineer - with an estimated completion date of November 2021.
The other two acres of our new campus will provide space for our faith-based programs. We are working to raise funds to cover the cost of this project and hope to break ground in the fall of 2021. We are reaching out to our faith-based community in hopes they will help us raise $7 million for this project.
Learn more here: Village of Hope, the new campus
Help us raise funds for the faith-based buildings on our Village of Hope campus, donate today.
If you have any questions, please contact me, Dr. Bruce Metcalf, Executive Director, 209.480.3899.
The Mission continues to need your prayers and donations to help us through these difficult times. We also request that as you consider your year-end giving, that you would include the ministry of the Rescue Mission. Thank you for all you do and for blessing this work.
