A Newsletter from Lexington Rescue Mission FALL ISSUE 2009

RESCUE ALERT
Reaching Hearts • Changing Lives Volume 8 • Issue 3

“Every Door Was Closed to Me”

B rian’s parents are supporters
of Lexington Rescue Mission.
But that’s not what got him into our
Life Renewal Program. “I was in
jail on alcohol-related charges and
everywhere I tried to get help, every
door was shut. My dad told me about
Lexington Rescue Mission, but they
didn’t have an opening right away so
I waited. It was worth it!”
“This place saved my life.
It saved my marriage. I did a
180-degree change, and now I’ve got
a whole new life! God changed my
heart by putting me in a place where
I’m held accountable. You don’t just
go to church on Sunday morning
and hear about how to live; you do
it every day. And people really see
the changes in you.”
“I had a short fuse; always
living in chaos. I got into fights
a lot. I didn’t have any balance in
my life. Now, there’s balance. I eat
well. I have my health back. I work
out regularly. And we do a lot of
mission work, giving back to the
community.”
“God led me
back home to
my family.”
“I hurt my parents and those
who loved me. I drank every night
and worked every day. I just beat my
body into the ground and in the end,
I was beaten down.” But coming into
the Life Renewal Program has made a
tremendous difference in Brian’s life.
“Being around good Christian people
every day and seeing how they act has
helped me the most.”
Even though he is about to
graduate from the Life Renewal
Program, Brian’s plans for the future
include Lexington Rescue Mission. “I
made some good friends – the people
that work here, the people that
volunteer here, some of the people
that live here – they’re friends you
take with you for life. I’ll be taking
the friendships and memories, but I’ll
be back and staying involved.”

INSIDE
A Message from
Jim Connell......................2

Meeting Needs as
They Arise.......................2

A Fresh Start
for Penelope...................3

444 Glen Arvin Avenue • P.O. Box 1050 • Lexington, KY 40588 • www.LexingtonRescue.org
A Message from
Jim Connell
Hard Times Have
Names and Faces
You don’t have to look very
far to see how the economic
troubles of the past year have
affected us all – shops and
stores closed, “for sale” signs
on homes and businesses. But
what you may not see are the
individuals whose lives have
been changed forever.
Here at the Mission we see
them every day. Men and
women like Penelope who’ve
lost their jobs and are receiving
help from the Mission until
they can find work. And
people like Brian who almost
lost hope until his life was
turned around in our Life
Renewal Programs.
More people than ever
before are coming to us for
help. And as Thanksgiving
approaches, it’s going to be
a tremendous job to care for
them all, but we believe we
can. By faith in God and
with the help of each and
every one of our partners,
it will all work out.
Jim Connell services for just $1.82!
Executive Director
2
Meeting Needs as They Arise
N orman came to Lexington
Rescue Mission looking for
help. He had been homeless for the
last 11 years, since he had aged out
of foster care. Lindsey Burke, our
outreach social worker, was able to
help him get an apartment at St.
James Place, resolve his child support
issues and apply for Social Security.
Today he is living on his own for the
first time in his life.
Lindsey Burke, LRM’s social worker, works with a guest.
“I just want to say thank you for
everything you are doing to try to help
me,” he wrote. “God sees everything you
are doing to help people. It’s like a dream
come true knowing that you are there for
me and that you really care. Lindsey, I
just wanted to say God bless you!”
Every day people like Norman
come to the Mission looking for help,
not knowing where to turn. Our social
worker, Lindsey, meets with these
clients, identifies their needs and helps
them work toward solutions.
She offers those in need clothing
vouchers to the Mission thrift
store, referrals to God’s Pantry and
Southland’s furniture bank, helps find
health care, glasses and dentures, as
well as providing housing and budget
120 Days. 7,000 Meals.
O
ver four months, a family of four
will eat about 1,440 individual
meals. Here at the Mission, we’ll serve
our family more than 7,000 meals in
that same time! And while the USDA
says that the average meal cost is about
$2.52 per person, the Mission can serve
a complete meal and provide access to
a wide variety of other life-changing
Between September 1 and December
31, we’ll have our busiest time of the
year. With more than 7,000 meals to
counseling, and she helps find resources
for rent and utility assistance. She
even helps them navigate government
programs like Social Security, Food
Stamps and Child Protective Services.
Most importantly, she offers prayer,
support, guidance and encouragement.
“It’s a real blessing to be able to offer
relief to people who are crying out for
help,” says Lindsey.
About 50 clients per month meet
with Lindsey during walk-in hours,
Monday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and
Thursday from 1 to 3 p.m. This fall we
plan to expand the hours, allowing us
to serve more people.
If you would like more information,
please call the Mission at (859) 381-
9600 or visit LexingtonRescue.org.
serve and 1,433 nights of lodging to
provide for program residents, we will
need to depend on the faithfulness and
support of all our partners!
When you think about how you
can best help those who are hungry and
homeless this fall, please consider giving
a generous gift to Lexington Rescue
Mission. As you help us serve those in
need, you truly serve the Lord himself!
For more information or to donate,
please visit LexingtonRescue.org.
A Fresh Start for
Penelope
O ur goal is more than just to help
those who are homeless; we
want to keep people from becoming
homeless. To that end, the Mission
offers several programs that are
available to those who are trying to
find work, pay their bills, continue
their education and find affordable
housing.
Penelope is one of those people.
Penelope’s children and grandchildren
are computer savvy, but when she
needed to find a new job, preparing
her resumé on the computer was
one of the first things she needed
to learn. Staff and volunteers at
Lexington Rescue Mission were there
to help! “Penelope has a lot of great
experience,” said one of the staff
members working with her, “She just
needed help organizing it to find a
new job.”
Penelope has worked hard to
support her children and herself. “I
started out working out as a nurse’s
assistant. I did that for almost five
years. I went to Radisson’s and started
there as a dishwasher and then worked
as a food handler. For two years I
worked for several temp services and
then got a job with Central Kentucky
Processing where I worked for four
years. Then I was laid off.”
“Now my kids are all grown and
I’m looking for a stable job until it’s
time for me to retire. Since I’ve been
coming to the Mission, I’ve also set
my mind on getting my GED, and
that will help me find an even better
job.”
Penelope comes to the Mission
whenever she can to hone her
computer skills and work on her
resumé. And once she finds a steady
job, she intends to keep visiting!
“Once I find a job and my pocketbook
looks right, I would like to donate to
help them out, to help them feed the
poor and help the homeless.”
The Mission reaches out to
individuals in the community like
Penelope who are trying to get
back on their feet by providing job
coaching, helping them prepare
resumés, fill out job applications and
prepare for interviews.
“The Mission is
helping me get
where I need to be.”
We also offer budgeting, money
management and housing classes
to help needy people learn their
rights and responsibilities as tenants.
Individuals taking these classes may
also receive help finding quality,
affordable housing.
Families in crisis receive help
through our Homeless Prevention
Program which provides emergency
financial assistance for rent and utility
bills. Working one-on-one with each
family, we provide budget counseling
and refer them to other Lexington
programs and resources. In 2008, 67
families were saved from being evicted
and 138 were rescued from having
their utilities shut off.
Feeding the
Hungry –
Volunteers Needed
E ach morning homeless men
and women gather outside
day labor services in hopes of
finding work. Because jobs are so
scarce, many leave their shelters
in the early morning hours, when
employers need them. They often
go without breakfast or lunch
so it’s suppertime before they
are able to eat. “There are many
people in Lexington going hungry
to find work,” said Jim Connell,
Executive Director. “We want to
make sure these people are fed and
that they know that we’re here to
help them.”
Lexington Rescue Mission
began providing breakfast and
lunch to people at day labor
services over the summer. In
addition to sack meals, we let
them know about the Mission’s
services, including employment
counseling, and offer prayer and
encouragement.
We need volunteers to
help deliver these sack meals.
Volunteers arrive at the Mission
at 4:30 a.m. to pick up the sack
meals and deliver them from 5
to 5:45 a.m. If you are interested
in volunteering or would like
more information, please contact
Natalie Cunningham at (859)
381-9600, ext. 224.
Needs List for
Sack Meals
Breakfast bars
Bottled water
Cheese crackers
Juice boxes
Fruit cups
Peanut butter
Bologna
Sandwich Bread
Cookies
3
A Gift to Thank You
for All You Do! Klothes 4 Kids
M ore than 200 children will have
new clothes for school, thanks to
your support. Lexington Rescue Mission
purchased new underwear, socks, shoes,
t-shirts and pants for needy children
with the funds raised through our
annual Klothes 4 Kids drive.
The clothes will be distributed to
families through the Family Resource
W ithout the gifts, volunteer
time and the prayers of
friends like you, this ministry would
and Youth Service Centers at 16
Fayette County schools. “There’s such
not exist. Please accept this free a great need at our school. I probably
2010 Mission calendar as a token of hand out a pair of shoes every day,”
our gratitude for all you do. said Leslie Calk, Family Resource
To receive your FREE 2010
Mission calendar, please check
the special box on your reply Mission Advocates
M
card and mail it today. Your
any volunteers work on the
calendar will be mailed at the end
of October. frontlines at the Mission,
serving meals, sorting clothes and
Visit Our Website! teaching classes. But many work
behind the scenes, including our
G et to know us better, learn
how you can volunteer your
time, read about the latest news and
Mission Advocates.
Mission Advocates build
events and donate securely online at relationships between churches and
www.LexingtonRescue.org the Mission.
Each month,
they receive
an e-mail
detailing
how their
church can be
involved and,
in turn, let their congregation know
about the opportunities. And when
their church has a Mission fair or
Enclosed is my gift to help care for hungry, homeless people.
m $16.38 to feed and care for 9 people
m $27.30 to feed and care for 15 people
m $52.78 to feed and care for 29 people
m $_________ to feed and care for as
many as possible
Donate online at www.LexingtonRescue.org, or call 859-381-9600.
_________________________________________________________________
NAME
_________________________________________________________________
ADDRESS
_________________________________________________________________
CITY / STATE/ ZIP
_________________________________________________________________
E-MAIL ADDRESS
Please return this completed form with your donation. Your gift is tax-deductible as allowed by law. You will receive a receipt.
Center
Coordinator
for William
Wells Brown
Elementary
School. She expressed her gratitude to
the Mission for providing the clothes,
adding that it was truly a blessing to
have them to give to families in need.
Thank you for making this project
a success!
For more information on this and
other Mission programs, please visit
our website at LexingtonRescue.org.
needs a speaker, they contact the staff
at the Mission.
Often, Mission Advocates find
creative ways to get their churches
involved. Maggie Middleton, a Mission
Advocate for St. Patrick’s Anglican
Church, realized she could help with the
Christmas Block Party. She organized
“Stitchin’ for the Mission” a group that
meets every month to knit scarves for
little girls. “It’s not only a great way
to help kids in need, but it’s also been
a fellowship opportunity for these
women,” Maggie said.
If you would like more information
or are interested in serving as a Mission
Advocate, please contact Laura Connell
at (859) 381-9600, ext. 227, or
laura@lexingtonrescue.org.
m Bill my credit card
m VISA m MC m AMEX m DISC
_________________________________________________
CREDIT CARD # CIV/SEC #
_________________________________________________
EXP. DATE PHONE #
m Send my 2010 Mission Calendar
Lexington Rescue Mission
P.O. Box 1050
Lexington, KY 40588-1050
FALL 09