Pastor Roy Tullgren
Dick Kroese
Pastor Roy Tullgren, Executive Director of Gospel Rescue Mission, shared with the Community Church at SaddleBrooke (CCSB) congregation that things were going well at the Mission and they are always busy meeting the needs of the homeless and working poor. The Mission provides over 350,000 meals and 70,000 bed nights of shelter each year for the homeless.
Preparation is currently underway for the two major annual Thanksgiving and Christmas Street Banquets. These banquets will serve traditional holiday meals with all the fixings to, respectively, 5,000 and 6,000 of our homeless and working poor neighbors. Volunteers play a major part in preparing and serving these meals.
Tullgren reported that the building that was damaged in an arson fire in June last year will reopen in about two weeks. This building is used to distribute food boxes, clothing and household items to our working poor neighbors, Monday through Friday.
Due to a new fire safety code requirement in March, the beds at the men’s shelter were cut by 60%. The Mission is now down to just 55 beds for men, and it was previously at 110, plus an additional 30-40 floor beds when needed. They were running at capacity with the 130-140 beds nightly, and now, due to this major cut, the unmet need has increased even more. The Mission has embarked on purchasing a new facility to serve up to 200 men. This may run up to between six and nine million dollars.
The Gospel Rescue Mission is exploring a couple of building options at this time. Further research is being conducted to evaluate if either will both meet the need at a reasonable cost as well as city zoning requirements for shelters. Once they have identified the building, they will inform the community in order to raise the needed funds.
Please join CCSB every Sunday at 8:30 a.m. in the DesertView Theatre in SaddleBrooke. We are an all-denominational community of grace where people will receive, live and share the love of Jesus Christ.
All are welcome.