Thank you for being our partner in change!
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.
Hope Impact - with John McGeehan of Capital for Compassion
Kevin Foster and I met Dr. Bruce Metcalf and Tim Adam at a rescue mission conference in Dallas in 2017. Bruce and Tim shared the story of the recent loss of the Canal Street facility. They knew that Capital for Compassion helped missions with funding for new projects and asked how we could help. Kevin and I thought that helping a homeless mission find a new home was a huge challenge and would likely take many years. Thankfully, we only needed to be faithful to the opportunities that God put in front of us.
Capital for Compassion is a West Michigan based group specializing in community redevelopment and affordable housing. Many of the projects are for similar rescue missions across the country. Capital for Compassion was founded in 2004 with the aim that each of America’s communities become a more excellent place to live for all its residents, including the marginalized and hopeless. Since then the group has consulted on over 300 projects, obtaining over $275 million in funding for organizations that provide housing and recovery services for the homeless.
“Thanks to 16 years of dedication by our consulting team and nonprofit partners, Capital for Compassion recently surpassed $1 billion in property development. This work represents over 21,000 persons suffering from homelessness and often substance abuse, who now have access to the necessary resources to become self-sufficient and productive members of their communities,” said Founder and Managing Partner Kevin Foster. Some of these projects were in the Central Valley including Fresno, Turlock, and Stockton.
Steve Dykstra and I visited Merced in October last year. As we met with various leaders it was clear that the community was behind the Village of Hope. We agreed to seek funding from our financing partners. As we secured tax credits from a group in Fresno, and the purchase of the tax credits by Wells Fargo, we still wondered how the project could be completed. But at each turn, from acquiring the five acres site, to zoning approval, to funding sources, it has been clear that we are on a journey of faith and that God is preparing the way. We know there is much work yet to be done, including raising more capital, and we are privileged to be serving your team and community.
By John McGeehan
MCRM Annual Fall Food Drive: October 15 - December 5
Our annual fall food drive is an essential part of supplying the Rescue Mission with food to feed people who are homeless and in our many programs. Traditionally, our food drive is held at local schools, but with schools functioning remotely, we are reaching out to our community for help.
Blue food donation barrels will be placed at many participating businesses throughout Merced, where you can drop off donations to help feed people who are hungry. Please join us, to help make this time of year special for those who are in need.
OCTOBER 15 - DECEMBER 5
DONATION DROP-OFF LOCATIONS (WITH BLUE BARRELS):
State Farm Insurance 61 W. Alexander
9am-12pm and 1pm-4pm, Monday-FridayAg Center 2941 State Hwy 59
Autism Center 1160 W. Olive
Food Maxx 1300 W. Olive
Grocery Outlet 1125 W. Main
Save Mart G Street & W. Olive
Grace Community Church 1125 W. Main
Bethel Community Church, Los Banos
If your business or organization would like to participate in our annual food drive, please contact Anthony, (209) 947-8493 to request a collection barrel any time during our food drive.
Thank you, and God bless!
MCRM adding two new houses for Bridge to Hope program in October
In October, MCRM will be adding two new houses for our Bridge to Hope program, one in Livingston and one more in Los Banos.
This program meets people where they are. For more information about our programs, click here!
MCRM Welcomes Lindsay Robinson
Hello! My name is Lindsay Robinson and I am so excited to be a part of the Merced Rescue Mission. I grew up in Mariposa and trickled down the hill about 18 years ago. My husband, Blevin, and I have been married for 13 years and have three wonderful children. Daniel and Danika are seniors at El Capitan High School and our youngest, Haylenn, is in 4th grade at St. Paul Lutheran School. Our family has been active members of Gateway Community Church for the past 14 years, where Blevin plays guitar on the worship team, Daniel is a cameraman for the live stream, Danika works in the children’s ministry department and I volunteer with the tech team each week.
My accounting experience began 8 years ago when I worked as a bookkeeper at Gateway EduCare. I was hired in December 2012 as the bookkeeper for Providence Christian school which merged with Stone Ridge Christian in 2015. After the merge, I became the Business Manager, a position I held until 2018 when I stepped down to have more time to focus on my children and further my education. I am now ready to head back into the workforce and assist Bettie with all the accounting and business aspects of the Merced Rescue Mission.
-Lindsay Robinson
Through the Eyes of Grace
My name is Don Borgwardt, and I am the most recent addition to the Merced County Rescue Mission (MCRM) staff. I was hired as a Peer Navigator for the Hope for Men program.
Prior to my start with MCRM I had served in managing multiple housing authorities in the Central Valley, until retiring in 2015 as Executive Director of Madera Housing Authority. Shortly after that in 2016, the Lord called me to serve in ministry with Yosemite Church in establishing a new satellite campus for the church in Atwater.
I had served in various capacities with YC over the years, but this was to be a very different experience. I served as the Campus Pastor there for four years until COVID closed the churches. This was a great time for reflection and prayer as I began to seek what the Lord had planned for me in this season. My desire was to be in the community ministering to those in need, but I was also conflicted with serving my church body in Atwater. Then, the Lord spoke clearly and told me I was going to MCRM. I reached out to the Mission and found that they did have a position available and so I applied. Apparently, God had spoken to the Mission too because I am here.
I knew a little about what the Mission did but was soon overwhelmed by what I would experience. If anyone were to question if God still performs miracles, I will have to tell them to look at the Hope for Men and Hope for Women program.
Daily, I see His transformation in the lives of people coming from prison, out of the judicial system, homelessness, and lives of addiction. I have seen people who have served time for issues related to addiction, now clean, worshiping the Lord, and starting jobs. People who are homeless have come into Hope for Men and found a real relationship with Jesus. They are now taking care of past criminal offenses caused by a lifestyle of drugs and alcohol and reunifying with family. Day after day, God’s mercy, love, and grace works through the lives of the approximately, 23 men currently in Hope for Men.
I am impressed by the men who get jobs as they work on bikes that were donated to the program to use to get back and forth from work. I do not know a lot of people that would be grateful for a bike to ride so they could work.
Jesus worked in the streets and towns healing the sick, the broken, and the needy. Today, he still works on the streets through the love, passion, and faith of those that work at MCRM. Any of my coworkers and myself are products of recovery. God uses us to help restore lives, heal the broken, and prove that God’s grace is alive and living here in Merced County.
I am honored and blessed to be called to serve on the front lines of ministry bringing Christ to a population in need.
- Don Borgwardt
Learn more about the Mission’s programs, click here.
