Seattle's Gospel Mission Celebrates 75 Years of Ministering to the Hungry, Homeless and Poor
"You'd be amazed how many people on skid row had companies or been millionaires. Most of them never had anybody in their lives who believed in them. It's a huge difference. We tell them that we believe in them. And we'll address behaviors."
(Seattle)?A report in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer describes the lines of hungry people who are continually fed and ministered to by Seattle's Union Gospel Mission, now marking its 75th anniversary.
The non-profit Christian organization served its first meals in downtown Seattle during the Great Depression, on August 21, 1932. Since then, notes reporter John Iwasaki, the Mission has added services for women and children, opened shelters and transitional housing, and offers drug- and alcohol-recovery programs, dental care, legal help and prison ministries, among other free services. (Photo by: Karen Ducey / P-I)
In the 2006 fiscal year, the Mission reportedly served more than a half-million meals, provided 120,000 overnight stays and 22,000 counseling sessions and held 5,500 Bible studies. According to the report, the organization accomplished that on a $14 million budget that did not include tax revenues, allowing the Mission to express its faith without restrictions. Diners, notes Iwasaki, are required to attend a chapel service before eating a free lunch or dinner, although they can bypass that requirement by paying $2.
The public probably perceives the typical Mission client to be a "55-year-old derelict," said Herb Pfiffner, executive director since 1989, but "that person is still there."
Gary Clark, a former client who now directs the men's shelter, said "You'd be amazed how many people on skid row had companies or been millionaires. Most of them never had anybody in their lives who believed in them. It's a huge difference. We tell them that we believe in them. And we'll address behaviors."
One "success story" is that of Yvette Bainter, who started drinking at age 12 and was a crack addict in her 40s. She is quoted as saying that going through the Mission's recovery program "cleaned me inside and out." Now 50, after also taking Bible and computer classes, she landed a job as a receptionist at Microsoft Corp. and will be celebrating five years of sobriety in October.
Secular programs elsewhere didn't work because "God wasn't in it," Bainter said. "It was all based on 12 steps and AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). Nothing the matter with that. But for me, I really needed to turn it back over to God."
