Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley has been serving the needs of the homeless in our area for more than 126 years! We offer shelter to an average of 114 men, women and children nightly, and serve hundreds of meals weekly. Numbers increase during the winter months.
We’ve been in our present location on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Youngstown since 1972. However, the building was constructed in 1930 and can no longer adequately meet the needs of the people we serve:
- Families as large as eight members must crowd into very small rooms. And all of the clients in our Family Department (sometimes up to 65 people) must share three toilets and 2 showers.
- There are no longer dedicated shower facilities for women. They must use the men’s showers, located on a different floor, and we must announce the presence of women on the floor when they go there.
- Other plumbing facilities are failing and cannot be repaired.
- Leaks have caused deterioration of walls and ceilings. In several areas, walls have crumbled and caved in from water damage.
- The building is not energy-efficient, and its many windows make heating it in winter very expensive.
- There are no outdoor play areas for children.
- The Mission has never been equipped to house those with physical challenges. All sleeping rooms are on floors 2, 3 and 4 and the Mission has no elevator for client use.
The cost to make the necessary repairs and renovations for these and other deficiencies in our building is prohibitive and would represent a band-aid approach at best. And there are other areas that are simply beyond repair.
In addition, there is the simple matter of space. Our present facility has a total of 27,000 square feet. It is frequently overwhelmed with men, women and children in crisis who are in need of food, shelter and protection.
For these individuals and families, the Mission is their last resort. If we are to continue to serve them, we need a new facility that is able to accommodate more people and those with physical challenges.