Donors Offer ‘Hope’ To City Rescue Mission Clients

City Rescue Mission's biggest event of the year had its biggest turnout ever on Thursday. The 20^th Annual Hearts of Hope Tea drew 780 donors, and their contribution will make an impact on women at the state's largest shelter. 

“Our goal this year is two-fold,” City Rescue Mission board member Rep. Collin Walke (D-Oklahoma City) told the crowd. “First, it will ensure our kitchen is ready for the next six million meals, and it will reach a new milestone, $3 million raised for women and children.”

Tears flowed as award-winning gospel singer Sandi Patty shared a song, and her reason for supporting the mission as a survivor of sexual abuse.

“This very shy voice became silenced, and I didn’t feel like my voice and my spirit and my heart had a place to belong,” Patty said.

Guests also got to see some of the people who are working through the shelter's programs to overcome a variety of struggles of their own.

City Rescue Mission staff serve 1,000 meals a day on average, but right now, there is just not enough space for everything. Vice President of Development Adam

Jones says, “The biggest need is us really being able to redesign, revamp the layout, the geography of how the kitchen is set up, so we can be more efficient.”

A new design will create shorter lines and streamline access to the options. The project will not be cheap, but with 780 people in a room ready to give, plus a matching grant of up to $200,000, the mission is well on its way.

“What we want to be able to do is, in the meal time, be able to offer them more variety, more choice in what they put in their body,” Jones explains.

City Rescue Mission believes by empowering the clients to make even the smallest decisions in their daily lives, they will gain the confidence to make better decisions when they re-enter society.