Shared Values Drive Church’s $25,000 Gift to Rescue Mission

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – A gift from the Canfield Presbyterian Church will help ensure that when residents and staff move into the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley’s new building this fall, it will be well stocked.

“Couches, tables, chairs, desks,” will be among the items that will be purchased using the funds, said Rescue Mission CEO John Muckridge III. “All of the things that go into the facility. If you were to take it and flip it upside down, that’s what the money will be used for.”

Officials with the church donated $25,000 dollars to the Rescue Mission’s Supply Our Shelter campaign, during a ceremony at the new building at 1300 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

David Moore, a member of Canfield Presbyterian, said the church previously donated $35,000 to the shelter’s Move Our Mission campaign and many members of the church volunteer their time at the mission

“Their mission statement and our mission statement are almost identical,” he said. “Spread the good news, help others.”

The rescue mission is looking to raise $1.5 million to purchase supplies for the new building, which is just north of their current building. So far the campaign has raised $783,300.

At 50,000 square feet, the Rescue Mission’s new building is nearly double the size of the existing site, and will have 174 beds, up from the 134 currently available.

Muckridge says the mission saw fewer clients coming through the doors during the pandemic.

One reason he believes is that some people were hesitant to come to the mission because of COVID. The other reason, he said, is that supplemental unemployment benefits and the moratorium on evictions helped people stay afloat.

“I know that’s expiring in September, so that could expire and we could start to see a tick up in our number of clients.”

Ground was broken on the $5.9 million building in October 2019. 

Pictured: At the check presentation are Canfield Presbyterian Church’s David Moore, Doug Hagy and Mark Kostyk alongside Rescue Mission CEO John Muckridge III.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.