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The church members that banded together in 1887 to found the Rescue Mission could never have guessed their work would one day help out parents of children at St. Matthew’s School. Brand-new Catholic school uniforms can be pricey, and the Thrifty Shopper store at 112 E. Manlius St., East Syracuse, carried the distinctive blue-plaid skirts and jumpers, sweaters and blue twill pants required of students at St. Matt’s (alas, now closed).
In the same way, those do-gooders of 125 years ago could not have predicted that the Rescue Mission in Syracuse would serve an average of 700 meals a day in 2012, would provide a bed for almost 250 people per night in 2011 and would employ 360 full- and part-time workers. Still, the existence of the Rescue Mission presents a classic good news/bad news scenario: It’s a shame their services are in such demand, but Syracuse is blessed that the Rescue Mission is here to provide them.
CEO Alan Thornton acknowledges the conundrum. “It would be great if people didn’t live under bridges, live in cars, live in abandoned buildings,” he says during a lengthy interview on a spectacular late October day. “It would be great if people didn’t have to come to us because they have no other place to go. It would be great if they didn’t have to get a meal here. We would love to see that happen.
“We believe that we can end hunger and we can end homelessness one person at a time and one family at a time,” Thornton continues. “We need to be prepared to serve more people and that’s unfortunate, but it’s fortunate that we’re here in order to do that.”
By “here,” Thornton means the so-called Mission District, the multi-building campus that sprawls along the 100 block of Syracuse’s Gifford Street, between West Onondaga and West streets. The buildings provide housing—both temporary and permanent—personal counseling and three meals a day, seven days a week.
The Rescue Mission has added similar services in both Binghamton and Auburn, although not on such a grand scale. Still, that those smaller cities require the services of the Rescue Mission means the problems of homelessness, hunger and unemployment persist and, indeed, are spreading.
“I don’t know if you can point to any one particular variable,” Thornton responds when asked why he thinks the Rescue Mission’s services are more in demand. “I think it’s a combination of things: You have an economy that has been challenging, unemployment is still high, food costs continue to rise. People that are on the margins are struggling to make sure they can get a meal for themselves and for their family. The Rescue Mission is one of the organizations in Syracuse that helps make sure that three times a day people have enough food.”
While American families gear up for their largest food-consumption day, Thanksgiving, on Thursday, Nov. 22, the same holds true of the Rescue Mission. Staff expects to cook 350 turkeys to serve to nearly 400 people at the Rescue Mission, but also to deliver up to 1,500 meals to the homebound and elderly. Then on Christmas they do it all over again.
Food Services manager Dave Bachus’ cooks start on Thanksgiving Day at 4 a.m. and finish up at 2 p.m. “The rest of the staff comes in about 6 p.m., and they’re done about 3 p.m.,” he says. “It’s a pretty long day with tons of volunteers. It’s a little chaotic, but organized chaos. We go through a ton of turkeys, and also serve mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, cranberry sauce and desserts. We try not to miss anything. It’s a special day. Christmas, it’s the same idea but we also offer ham.”
Lisa D’Angelo, director of volunteer services at the Rescue Mission, reports no problems at all finding volunteers for the two big holidays. “The biggest challenge for us, when we do fill the holiday spots, is keeping the prospective volunteers interested and engaged, so we don’t lose them. There are so few days in the year that the entire family has off together, and I think that’s what encourages them to keep coming back every year: Helping out at the Rescue Mission becomes part of their holiday tradition.”
Jesus is Their Homeboy
The other large organization in Syracuse that provides similar services to the Rescue Mission is the Salvation Army. Founded in England in the mid-19th century, the Salvation Army is also a Christian group that assists the less fortunate. A platoon of Salvation Army members made it here in 1882, and they found plenty to do.
But the roughnecks the Erie Canal attracted to the burgeoning downtown area provided enough work for another outreach group as well. On Sept. 4, 1887, a storefront mission opened at 56 E. Railroad St. (East Washington Street), near saloons, gambling dens and brothels. Not backing down from the daunting task of cleaning up the streets, representatives from eight downtown churches gathered to formalize the mission of the Mission and establish a constitution. Among those churches still going today: Plymouth Congregational, Park Central Presbyterian and University Methodist.
Thornton doesn’t see the Salvation Army as any sort of competition. “We work together,” he says. “From a community standpoint, we have a tremendous amount of respect for the team at the Salvation Army and how hard they work, and when possible we look for ways to partner with them.
“Back then, just as today,” he continues, referencing the 1800s, “there was enough need in the community to require multiple agencies working together to try to alleviate these issues. We are incredibly fortunate as a community to have such long-term organizations like the Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, Syracuse Behavioral Healthcare and the Rescue Mission working together to try to make life better for those that we’re serving.”
At its core the Rescue Mission remains a Christian organization, and it attracts support, volunteers and chaplains from many Syracuse churches. “We have a lot of church groups that come through and volunteer, but we have a lot of individuals and a lot of businesses that take this on as a monthly team-building event as well,” Thornton says.
In fact, Thornton himself grew up in a ministry-oriented family. “My father pastored for a number of years, so this idea of service—I witnessed it and I was indoctrinated into it—was a part of our family DNA growing up,” says the native of Ontario who became an American citizen just this summer. “I didn’t know what that meant for me, how I would get involved, but it was a value, which I guess is the best way to put it.”
He graduated from Messiah College, a Christian liberal arts school in Grantham, Penn., with a degree in exercise science. “There was a lot about service and giving back and helping out those in need as part of the DNA at the school.” Thornton, 40, met his future wife, Simone Thornton, at the college; they have four children and live in Syracuse. She grew up on the Onondaga Nation, and was attending Messiah to be a teacher; her goal was to return to work at the Onondaga Nation School, where she now teaches kindergarten.
“She had grown up attending the Rescue Mission camp, Id-Ra-Ha-Je {I’d Rather Have Jesus, get it?}, from the time she was 5,” Thornton says. “She was still involved with it when she was 23. I learned about the Rescue Mission from her.”
The Rescue Mission closed the camp in LaFayette around 2005. Thornton took his first job on Gifford Street in 1994 at the Mission’s recreation center. “Over time I learned as much as I could about the Rescue Mission, I took on as many opportunities and different roles as they were willing to give me. I think that has helped in getting a broad perspective of the organization {he pronounces it with the long, Canadian, “i”} and understanding it really well and how it all works together.”
Before being named CEO in August, Thornton worked as chief operating officer. Incredibly polite and soft-spoken—he is a Canadian—Thornton greets every client he encounters with a “Hello, how are you today?” And while Thornton lives and works the Christian model, the Rescue Mission does not force religion onto any of its clients. A small chapel sits adjacent to the residential dorms, and is available to clients who seek spiritual solitude and church services.
“No one who lives here is required to go to chapel,” Thornton stresses. The same goes for the Rescue Mission’s volunteers, even though many are aligned with a church. “The Christian faith is foundational to who we are and a lot of us that work here do so because we feel there’s a calling in our lives to care for those in need and the less fortunate.
“But everything we offer is completely voluntary. We run Bible studies, and family reconciliation support groups. We’ll have recovery meetings and chapel services, but we don’t push it on anyone. We’re accepting of wherever people are in their faith journey, and we don’t discriminate against anyone for their faith tradition. I would rather people experience the gospel before they ever hear it.”
Help Wanted
Vital to the Rescue Mission’s, um, mission, is its army of volunteers, most visibly those at the meal-serving lines. Children are welcome, but need to be 12 and older to work on the service line; younger kids can help deliver meals.
The Rescue Mission’s 13 Thrifty Shopper
stores (plus its recently opened 3fifteen thrift store on the Syracuse
University Hill) use volunteers for any task except answering the phone
and running the cash register. The mailroom needs help collating and
stuffing the Mission’s mailings. The warehouse in Liverpool that accepts
all donations bound for the thrift stores offers more physical
opportunities such as pre-sorting, tagging, labeling and bundling.
While all Thanksgiving Day duties are filled, some remain available for Christmas, says D’Angelo. “We need volunteers to deliver Christmas Day meals, for three different shifts,” she notes. “We use about 80 carloads of volunteers and we have a few spots still left.”
Last year, 1,500 Christmas Day meals went out. “Deliveries on both Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to be increasing each year,” she adds. “I think it’s partly that seniors are living longer, and more people are aware of the program.”
D’Angelo still needs assistance in the Holiday Donation Area. “I set up a volunteer in that area to greet people that are bringing in donations: food, clothing, gifts. We like to have a volunteer every day and shift we’re open,” she says. Help is needed weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., through Dec. 24; call 701-3898 to sign up.
The Burton family of Cicero—Christine and Brook, with children Cayla, 14, and Hunter, 11—started volunteering at the Rescue Mission six years ago. “Now nieces and nephews are helping out with us,” Christine Burton says. When it’s not holiday time, she and a friend staff the mailroom.
“When the kids were younger, they really loved it when we delivered meals to people on Thanksgiving and Christmas,” she adds. “I always told them to smile, and that they might be the only person they see that day. ‘Tell them to enjoy their meal and have a nice Thanksgiving.’ The first year Cayla was able to work serving with me, she saw that some people aren’t as appreciative of the meal as others, so that’s a lesson in and of itself.”
This year the family, members of Cicero United Methodist Church, is hosting a foreign exchange student from Germany and she will be helping as well. “What a good feeling it is,” Christine Burton says, “to be able to give to someone else rather than just receiving. And helping the less fortunate isn’t just for the holidays—it’s all year-round. It gets worse in the winter, but people are still hungry in the summer.”
On this warm October evening, the main course for dinner is Little Caesars pizza. “Maybe some of these individuals are staying in residence with us tonight,” Thornton says as he passes through the large dining room spotted with circular tables.
Bachus strives to devise healthy menus for each meal. “Lately we’ve been trying to serve healthier foods—more fruits and vegetables,” he says.
When asked if there was one foodstuff that wasn’t a hit, Bachus thinks, but not for long. “We had a problem with squash for some reason,” he says, “and I’ve tried to make it so many different ways. They just don’t like squash.”
Alongside residents sit families with young children, many from the Near West Side, or individuals. “Since it’s toward the end of the month, these tables will be filled and we’ll have a line probably out the door,” Thornton explains. “As the month winds down, people are running out of money, running out of food, public assistance is probably exhausted by now. You see a lot of families who want to make sure their kids aren’t going to bed hungry.”
Currently the Rescue Mission offers four housing alternatives to 275 men, but the biggest future need is for emergency shelter; Thornton would also like to expand the permanent housing. “That’s for clients who need time to build up savings, if they’re in recovery to continue to keep going to their meetings, and they may have connected with a faith community. So they need that time to connect with their support when they do get their own place.”
Historically, says Thornton, the Rescue Mission has reached out to the male population. “We’ve always been open to serving women, but it’s looking at what does the community need and what’s our capacity to assist?” he explains. “As we’ve looked at developing a master plan for our campus, one of the things we would like to do is perhaps serve women.”
The Rescue Mission recently received a $1.98 million grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank to cover some of the cost of that construction, as well as to modify the former recreation center for more emergency housing. A bit more than 10 percent of the Rescue Mission’s funding comes from government agency fees and grants, including county public assistance and Social Security disability income residents pay (using a fee structure set up by New York state) while living there.
It all adds up to an organization constantly in flux, one that sees a growing demand for its services and that continues to rely on its faithful volunteers while always seeking new revenue streams. From its well-stocked Thrifty Shopper stores (that helped out this frugal St. Matt’s mom oh, so many years ago), to its Ride for the Rescue fundraising cycling event, to the Scan-Away Hunger coupon program at Wegmans, and to the freshly painted railroad bridge spanning East Onondaga Street that marks the beginning of the Mission District—it’s tough for a Syracusan not to know something about the Rescue Mission.
“We couldn’t be here for 125 years without the support of this community,” Thornton acknowledges. “So we’re really celebrating the community’s support and concern for their neighbors as much as we’re supporting the Rescue Mission’s existence for 125 years.”
You can learn more about the Rescue Mission at rmsyr.org or find them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. To volunteer at the holidays, or any time of year, call 701-3841.
A heartwarming story! Thanksgiving is always a necessary, if annoying, reminder that I often think I 'deserve' things and don't need to be thankful. I wrote an essay about it: http://bit.ly/P9fBuF