| MISSION MILESTONES, 1893-2006 |
 | 1893 Christ Mission Settlement is founded by W. J. Price at 408 E. Federal St. | |
| 1894 Sewing School, Mothers Club, and free kindergarten are established. | |
| 1902 Christ Mission Kindergarten Chartered in Youngstown. | |
| 1905 Moved to an old house in the rear of 360½ E. Federal Street. | |
| 1908 Moved to East Boardman Street into a three-story building; lot donated by H. B. Wick. | |
| 1916 Children use Mill Creek Park's Fresh Air Camp for playground. | |
| 1917 Rev. Ray Hagstrom joins Christ Mission as superintendent. | |
| 1922 Christ Mission Helio Hygienic Camp for Pre-Tubercular and socially underprivileged children is started 10 miles southwest of Youngstown, near Canfield. | |
| 1923 Monthly Socials on Saturday nights. 288 men attend, 18 different nationalities, 52 volunteers. | |
| 1925 With $300 capital, a pool room at the corner of Boardman Street and Dounds Alley is rented. | |
| 1928 Camp Hospital is made possible and dedicated to Youngstown Kiwanis Club for their work with underprivileged children. | |
| 1932 A group of seven Christ Mission settlement workers start Christian Missionary work in the foreign fields. | |
| 1936 Christ Mission Farm is started on a 275-acre estate of William Swanston. The farm maintains dairy cattle, hogs, chickens and a small maple sugar camp. The farm provides food for the pre-tubercular children's camp. | |
| 1943 Men's and women's prayer groups increase to 20 active groups. | |
| 1952 Overnight lodging for the year: 5000 homeless men and women. | |
| 1958 Rev. Walter Houghton comes from Florida with his family to be the new director. | |
| 1960 The Board decides the work is too large for one board to handle efficiently,
so they split the work. Part of it later becomes Christ Mission Goodwill Home,
and the other part becomes what is known today as Rescue Mission Inc. | |
| 1962 Total meals served for the year: 15,425. | |
| 1963 The mat-making program helps provide jobs for 200 men totaling more
than 9,000 man-hours. Edith O'Connell leads a Good News Bible Class every
Thursday under the direction of Child Evangelism Fellowship and
International Children's Ministry. | |
| 1964 Mary Fulton Ladies Auxiliary is organized. | |
| 1969 The Mission moves to South Avenue location between an Italian food store and shoe repair shop. | |
| 1972 The Mission begins moving into the old YMCA building, at the present location of 962 West Federal Street (now know as Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard). | |
| 1975 Rev. John Woods accepts position as new Executive Director. | |
| 1980 Rev. Tim Lowe comes with his family from mission work in other areas to be the new Executive Director. | |
| 1982 Shelter opens for families, with an average of 10-12 per night. | |
| 1985 New Life Center in Vienna is remodeled and opened as the New Life
Maternity Home, a residential prenatal care home for girls of any age in crisis pregnancy. | |
| 1988 Due to increases in the numbers of women and children, a Family Services
Division is formed, with an average of more than 60 people per night. | |
| 1989 Teen Straight Talk begins under the direction of Mary Duke. Rev. David
Sherrard, with 18 years of experience in the Detroit Rescue
Mission, comes here with his family to serve as the new Executive Director. | |
| 1990 Winter Wonderland begins. Children's gifts are collected and volunteers
wrap the gifts for distribution. | |
| 1991 A survey in Youngstown indicates 50% of homeless are children. A new
board is formed for the New Life Maternity Home and is spun off from the Rescue
Mission to better serve the needs of the girls. | |
| 1992 End-of-the-year figures show increases in meals (13,683), overnight
stays (26,886) and clothing (6,151). Due to a lack of space, a new facility
is purchased. The Distribution and Volunteer Center is opened at 2246 Glenwood Avenue. | |
| 1999 Private donations provide for the
renovation of an old storage area into a Computer Learning Center, which is
a key element in the Resident Programs for men, women and children. | |
| 2001 A walk-in freezer and refrigerator are purchased with grant monies,
allowing the ministry to take advantage of perishable foods that are
purchased in bulk and donated. | |
| 2002 Two sisters who regularly volunteer gift the Mission's Family Services
Division with the complete renovation of an old office area, transforming
it into the Wee Room, a play and learning area for our smallest guests.
They did this in honor of their parents. | |
| 2003 Year-end statistics show a huge increase in the Family Services division.
Of the more than 23,000 overnight stays, more than 5,000 were children. | |
| 2004 Palm Sunday is the beginning of the Rescue Mission's weekly Sunday Chapel
services, open for anyone to attend. The Chapel was full with standing room only! | |
| The Rescue Mission Ambassador Program is launched, establishing a liaison
between individual churches and the Mission. | |
| The Mission prepares for growth. Private funding enables the Mission to
install a leading edge computer network linking both buildings to each other
and the world. | |
| 2005
A true year of growth. A major communication program is launched to educate the community
on all that is happening at their Mission. | |
| | The Valley Institute of the Bible
opened September and today meets in the "Upper Room" at
Harley-Davidson of Youngstown. | |
| |
A
complete rework of the website - it attracted a young
Christian social studies graduate student from Finland
to do her field practice here in Youngstown! |
|
| |
Your Mission is held up as a model for new Ministries
around the United States. We have achieved the
Association of Gospel Rescue Missions Certificate of
Excellence - the "ISO 9000" of the Mission field. | |
|
2006
We are already experiencing the positive effect of the
Public Awareness Program launched in January/
More and more people in the Valley are coming to
understand the 2nd Chance focus of their Mission! | |
| |
2007
Received 8+ acres from the City of Youngstown for a new
facility.
|
The Mission, with direction by our public
accounting firm, changed it’s accounting
practice to value and report In-Kind gifts
to more accurately portray the scope of the
goods and services over which we have
stewardship including volunteer hours.
Produced a 30 minute documentary on DVD to
tell the story of what God is doing in the
lives of the people at The Mission ... all
the people.
Joined with the Mahoning County Continuum of
Care Partners in the sharing of meaningful
data with respect to the needs of the
homeless and near homeless in our community. |
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2008
God continues His
“new thing” ... Isaiah 43:18-19 ESV "Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a
new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the
desert.”
Serving Christ and the
Community for 115 years!
We can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for
us next! | |
The Christ Mission Settlement was founded in 1893 by W.J. Price at 408 E. Federal St.
The Mission was established initially as a learning center for adults and
underprivileged children. But in the mid-1900s, The Mission grew and evolved to
encompass so much more, as it began feeding and housing thousands of homeless men and
women each year. In 1960, the Board of the Christ Mission Settlement decided to
split the work into two divisions. Part of it later became Christ Mission Goodwill Home,
and the other part became known as Rescue Mission Inc. Listed below are the
milestones that have made The Rescue Mission of Mahoning Valley the remarkable
institute that it is today.
