“The people here are like family!”

Volume 23 u Number 3
TIDINGS
Fall 2013
™
A l l e n t o w n R E S C U E M I S S I ON Serving the entire Lehigh Valley since 1900
“The people here are like family!”
S
o many of us are blessed to have
friends or family we can depend
on in emergencies! We are blessed
to have people who will help us out
when the going gets rough.
Bernardino lived with a friend
in Stroudsburg, helping out with
rent and utilities while he worked in
construction. When the project he
was working on ended, he continued
to share his unemployment benefits
until the friend decided to move to
California.
Bernardino’s sister was his next
lifeline. But when she and her children
moved into a smaller house, there was
no room for an extra family member.
Bernardino might still have
been OK if he had been able to find
another job, or if his unemployment
benefits hadn’t run out. Instead, he
became homeless. Fearing life on the
streets, Bernardino began “hanging
out” at a local hospital.
“I was trying to find shelter,”
he said. “When they realized my
situation, one of the nurses looked
up shelters and that’s how I came to
learn about the Allentown Rescue
Mission.”
“The Lord blessed me!”
Hospital staff not only found
Bernardino a place where he could
stay, they also provided the bus ticket
that enabled him to get here!
Once he was settled in our
Gateway Center emergency
shelter, Bernardino says he
found the staff members to
be “nice, and honest and
helpful in every way.”
The welcome he
felt from our staff
encouraged him to
355 W. Hamilton Street
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P.O. Box 748
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Allentown, PA 18105
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610-740-5500
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Don’t Miss…
“Is my gift really important?”......2
2013 Thanksgiving Campaign.....2
A devoted son
becomes homeless.....................3
Save the Date.............................4
join our long-term Christian Living
and Values Transitional Program.
“I learned about the program and
told them I was interested. I really
wanted to learn more about God.”
In addition to chapel and Bible
study, Bernardino took part in money
management and budgeting classes
to help him live a responsible, debtfree life when he leaves the Mission.
There was also résumé writing,
basic computer skills and interview
techniques – all tools that will help
him find and keep a new job.
Bernardino would love to find
work in maintenance, perhaps at a
nursing home. But until then he’s
hopeful for the future, using the
skills he’s learned at the Mission.
www.AllentownRescueMission.org
“Is my gift really
important?”
“Will it really matter if I
don’t make a gift to the Mission
today?”
Yes! It most certainly will.
It will make a big difference
to a man like Bernardino who
has exhausted all his options and
finds himself homeless. It will
make a difference to a man in
our New Creations program who
needs housing while he looks for
work and becomes a supporting
member of our community. Your
gift will make a tremendous
difference to hundreds of people
who depend on the Mission for
food, shelter and hope!
And it won’t just make a
difference because people receive
food and shelter. Because as we
give faithfully to others of our
time, our talents and our treasure,
we make an impact on the world
to His glory.
Because of your faithfulness,
people’s needs are met and they
are blessed. They are fed and
sheltered and their lives are
changed forever.
YES. Your gift does make a
difference!
Tom Gibson, President
Board of Directors
TIDINGS
™
Rescue, rehabilitation, and
restoration for people in crisis.
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Board of Directors
Tom Gibson / President
John Kercsmar, C.P.A. / Vice President
Will Hahn / Treasurer
Dean Browning
John Hinkle
Kris Kapoor
Dr. Laurence Karper
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Brad Osborne
Stuart Smith
Dr. Wayne Stuart
Evett Vega
The Allentown Rescue Mission is a
registered Pennsylvania charity.
Official registration and financial
information may be obtained from the
Pennsylvania Dept. of State by
calling toll free, within PA 1-800-732-0999.
Registration does not imply endorsement.
TIDINGS is funded by private donations,
not government money.
2
New Program Helps the
Homeless Help Themselves
A
new Resource Center that will allow
clients to search for jobs, give them
access to computers, phones and other
helpful information from the hours
of 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. recently opened at
the Allentown
Rescue Mission.
The Center will
give homeless
clients of the
Mission a
place to go
for job search
information,
newspapers, bus schedules, self-help
books, Bibles, and other Lehigh Valley
programs that are vital tools to help
themselves out of homelessness.
The Gateway Center emergency
shelter is the entry point for the
homeless men entering the Mission.
Previously, unless they entered one
of the Rescue Mission’s longer-term
programs, the men were allowed to
enter the shelter at 5 p.m., have dinner,
were provided a bed for the night,
given breakfast, and had to leave at
8 a.m. With the opening of the new
Resource Center, the men have a place
to go during the day to be productive
and proactive in helping to end their
homelessness.
Volunteers Needed for Annual Food
and Supplies Drive
T
he Allentown Rescue Mission’s
annual Thanks for Giving Food and
Supplies Drive will be here before you
know it! November 22nd and 23rd may
seem far away to most, but rallying over
150 volunteers is no small task when
collecting over 37,000 pounds of food.
That’s how much needed food and
supplies generous donors helped bring in
to fill our pantries during last year’s drive.
In the past, the Mission has partnered
with local Walmart stores, Giant
Supermarkets, National Penn Bank,
People First Credit Union, Rothrock
Motors, News Talk 790 WAEB-AM,
B104-FM the Boy Scouts and local
churches to help with the drive. But it
also takes over 13 dozen volunteers to
pull it off. If you can help, please contact
Kevin Cope, Development Outreach
Coordinator to find out more. Please call
(610) 740-5500, ext. 23. Thank you for
your support.
2013 Thanksgiving Campaign
barely over…who’s
Because without your support, there is
S ummer’s
thinking about Thanksgiving?
no food, there is no shelter ‒ there is
We are! Because the months ahead
no Mission.
are our absolutely busiest time of the
year.
In the next 90 days we need to:
• Serve more than 12,000 meals to
hungry people.
• Provide over 6,390 nights of safe
shelter for people who are
homeless.
And today, we need to raise
thousands of dollars to make it all
happen!
That’s why your gift to our 2013
Thanksgiving Campaign is so important.
You demonstrate God’s love in
tangible, life-changing ways – a meal, a
night’s shelter, education, job training
and counseling.
Please send a gift today to fill the
pantry, stock the shelves and make sure
the doors are always open to those in
need.
You can use the gift slip and
envelope with this newsletter. Or, make
your gift safely and securely online at
www.AllentownRescueMission.org.
Thank you!
A devoted son becomes
homeless
R
aised in Bethlehem, Eduardo had
a wonderful job as a professional
welder, working on high-pressure
nuclear plants all around the world.
Well-paid for his highly-skilled work,
he had managed to save quite a bit of
money by the time both his parents
became ill in 2001.
When his father’s income was gone,
Eduardo supported the family and
paid the medical bills. But a decade of
caring for his mother and father wiped
out Eduardo’s savings. With his parents
gone and his money spent, Eduardo had
nowhere to go.
For a while, he “couch surfed,”
staying with a friend. But that was just
temporary. What Eduardo needed was
food in his stomach, a roof over his
head and a new direction for his life. He
found all three at our Gateway Center
emergency shelter.
The Mission was not what he
expected!
“It was actually a lot better than
I expected,” he said with a smile. “I
expected them to give me a blanket and
say, ‘Here, go lay in a corner.’”
Instead, Eduardo found a clean, wellorganized shelter that provided showers,
clothing, a bed and three meals a day,
AND people who were truly interested in
helping him turn his life around!
“They have a really good staff
here,” Eduardo says. “I didn’t know
what to think at first but it was an
opportunity…a blessing in a way…
because I needed this program, but I
didn’t know it at the time.”
ARM New
Community Garden
A
Eduardo eventually entered our
Christian Living and Values Transitional
Program and accepted Jesus Christ as his
Lord and Savior!
Through the Mission, Eduardo also
gained access to other programs here in
Allentown that would help him get his
life back on track. “I had an opportunity
to get involved with a program called
Step by Step that’s helped me with some
of the emotional issues I’ve had since
my father’s death. And I’m working
with OVR (Occupational Vocational
Rehabilitation) to find a permanent job.”
“If it wasn’t for this place, I wouldn’t
have gotten out of the hole I was in,”
Eduardo says. “You need somewhere like
the Mission where you can get a home
base, to let your spirituality grow. Then
you can regain your strength and your
self-esteem and go forward!”
lmost a dozen volunteers
from Riverbend Community
Church gathered at the
Allentown Rescue Mission to
help transform the entrance
to our Gateway Emergency
Shelter. Volunteers were assigned
to give a facelift to an existing
garden and help to beautify the
area. Development Outreach
Coordinator Kevin Cope headed
up the project. “Some of our
volunteers came all the way up
from Knoxville, TN,” said Cope.
“They were all very excited to be
here, and it didn’t take long to see
the transformation happen right
before our eyes.”
Program Director Rob Romig
took the group on a tour of
the Mission and explained the
programs
and
services we
offer the
homeless
men
in our
facility. After the tour, volunteers
started pulling weeds, trimming
grass and removing old
overgrown vegetation in the main
garden. The Mission is grateful
for the donations of vegetables,
flowers and many wheelbarrows
of mulch, courtesy of Allentown
City & Parks Department
(mulch), Plantique (new flowers
& plants), and Penn State
Extension (vegetable seeds and
consultation service).
3
Save the Date!
11TH Annual News Talk
790 WAEB
Spaghetti Dinner
M
ark your calendars for this
year’s 11th annual News Talk
790 WAEB Spaghetti Dinner in
support of the Allentown Rescue
Mission, which will be held on
October 12th at Asbury United
Methodist Church in Allentown.
Since its inception, the dinner
has been held at Asbury UMC,
located at 1533 Springhouse
Road in Allentown.
WAEB’s
Bobby
Gunther
Walsh is set
to serve up
his “secretrecipe”
meatballs again this year.
In the two weeks leading up
to the event, be sure to listen
to Gunther on Newstalk 790
WAEB-AM to pledge your
support of the Mission by
sponsoring one of Gunther’s
meatballs for $10. The very first
spaghetti dinner was held in 2003
and about 300 people attended.
The dinner has become such a
huge success, the event has seen
up to 900 guests in recent years.
Former Client Heads Up New
Rescue Mission Program
New Creations Gives Men a New Beginning
D
avid Zinni, a former client, has
been named the new House
Coordinator for the “New Creations
of the Allentown Rescue Mission”
Program. Zinni successfully transitioned
through all of the Mission’s programs
several years ago and is great example of
a Mission success story. He now teaches
the men in the New Creations Program
the importance of a Christ-centered
approach to recovery. “The journey
of sobriety is not a path to be walked
alone, but must be walked with God,”
says Zinni.
Men who have previously battled
with drug and alcohol issues are
experiencing success through the
program. New Creations opened its
doors in April, and since then 11 men
2014 Mission Calendar
Reserved for you:
Here’s my 2013 Annual
Thanksgiving Campaign Gift:
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have enrolled. Six of those have gone
on to find jobs, housing, and have been
successfully discharged. Four more
clients are expected to be enrolled by the
end of the month.
The program gives troubled men
another viable path from homelessness
and addiction to a safe, clean and
supportive home.
$16.11 to feed and care for 9 people
$26.85 to feed and care for 15 people
$51.91 to feed and care for 29 people
$______ to feed and care for as many as possible
Send me my FREE 2014 Mission Calendar
W
ithout the gifts, volunteer time and prayers of
friends like you, this ministry to our community’s
hungry, homeless people would not exist.
As a token of our gratitude for all you do, please
accept this beautiful 2014 calendar as our way of saying
“Thank you!”
To receive your FREE 2014 calendar, please check
the special box on your reply card and mail it today.
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Check enclosed
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CREDIT CARD #
EXP. DATE
CIV/SEC #
PHONE #
E-MAIL
Donate online at www.AllentownRescueMission.org,
or call (610) 740-5500, ext. 26.
ADDRESS
Allentown Rescue Mission
P.O. Box 748
Allentown, PA 18105-0748
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