I would have never believed it.
The word homeless paints a picture in our minds. Our beliefs and experiences determine what we think it looks like. Most of us would paint a similar picture, and poverty would be a huge part of that. The not-so-common picture is seeing our next door neighbors of twenty years lose their home and have nowhere to go. MRM recently received a call to assist a middle class family facing homelessness after being hard-working residents for nearly 20 years. I can still hear the wife saying, “If you would have told me two years ago we would lose our health, income, our home and have nowhere to go,
I would have never believed it.” Both husband and wife knew the Lord, and I was able to encourage and reassure them that life is not about what we possess, but rather who possesses us.
Special thanks goes to all of our donors who helped with Coldest Nights shelters for the 2016/17 season. Over 700 reoccurring nights of lodging during a period of 50 nights is five more nights than the previous season. We could not have done it without you. Many of you donated and kept us running. Some helped with laundry, others served meals and many participated in the cleaning. No matter how you served this season, all of us thank you for helping us deliver life-saving services to the homeless in our community.
With Winter Shelter Operations set to end in mid-April, we now turn our attention to storing water for Hot Patrols. We have adopted "Beat the Heat" for this season's theme. Believe it or not, there are only 30 days between our coldest nights, at 32 degree temperatures, and hot patrols, at 90 degrees.
The Mission’s next step is strategic planning. Armed with a set of architectural sketches, MRM Board of Directors have established a day in April to outline how we will make the MRM plans a reality. With your continued support, we continue to move closer and closer to opening our doors.
Sincerest thanks,
Ed Grimes
Executive Director
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