For the last several years here at Denver Rescue Mission, we’ve focused on transitioning our shelters to 24/7 operations and bringing more solution-oriented services to those accessing these environments on a nightly basis. We’ve adjusted our way of doing things so that we are better positioned to meet the individuals we serve at their physical and spiritual points of need.
While there is still a lot of attention on emergency shelter capacity, one thing remains consistent here at the Mission: men are in desperate need of the recovery support offered through the Mission’s New Life Program.
The New Life Program started in 1997 as staff at our downtown shelter saw a growing need for drug and alcohol treatment amongst those they served. Beyond that, they saw a need for treatment for the life issues that had led them to abuse drugs and alcohol to begin with. Through the years, the New Life Program has adapted to keep pace with the unique needs within the community we serve—with “Jesus Saves” always at our center.
Last year the program graduated 80 men. Eighty men who had the opportunity to hear about Jesus. Eighty men who received clinical assistance for their addictions and counseling support for their underlying grief, trauma and struggles. Eighty men who experienced hands-on training from the program’s work readiness approach and found full-time employment. Eighty men who now have a place to call “home.”
We have growing “competition” for the attention of men who could benefit from programs like the New Life Program, the largest competition being readily available jobs. Too often men are distracted from their recovery journeys by the ease of making money in today’s labor market. Too many men leave the program early and decide that they’ve got it all figured out, oftentimes with multiple job offers.
While we are encouraged by the unemployed finding employment, the Mission is in the business of changing lives. Our goal for those entering the New Life Program is more than employment, more than housing, even more than sobriety. We want men to find hope in the one person who has the power to change their lives forever—the person of Jesus.
Thank you for your ongoing generosity and support of Denver Rescue Mission. Because of you, we are able to continue meeting the men in the New Life Program at their physical and spiritual points of need and continue changing lives in the name of Christ.
Josh Geppelt
Vice President of Programs
This post is part of September’s Changing Lives Newsletter. This month, we’re featuring Tony in: Finding Solid Ground.
