Every day I get an accounting of the men and women who are in our facilities. Today we have 90 men – 35 are at the Mission for short-term emergency shelter and 55 are members of the long-term (6 month) program. In Laura’s Home, the facility for women and children, we have 105 –  52 are long-term clients and 53 in short-term emergency shelter. All together there are 195 men, women and children staying at the Mission.

The age spread of our adult clients is sobering, the youngest is 18 and the oldest is 71.  Both ends of the spectrum disturb me. It deeply troubles me that someone as young as 18, barely out of High School, or as old as 70 would be in a Rescue Mission. How did things break down so completely that there is no one and nowhere to go in such a vulnerable stage of life? Just thinking about it makes me feel sad. I keep seeing my own child, so alienated from the family that they have nowhere to turn and nowhere to go.

I sat with a mom and dad today whose son is in the long-term program. I could see the fear and pain in both their faces. I attempted to comfort them with the promise that restoration and life transformation is available and possible in Christ. I saw a glimmer of hope spark in their eyes as we talked. As they left, the mom shared with me that for most of his life her son had fallen through the cracks. She was worried that it would happen again.

I wonder if that isn’t a good description for every man, woman and child in our facilities – they have fallen through the cracks, the cracks of society. Only for most of them, no one is worried and no one is watching. They just keep falling.

If you’re interested in making a difference, contact The City Mission  at http://www.thecitymission.org/.