"It is absolutely incredible how the greater Salt Lake area has stepped up to volunteer - although we have a very good relationship with the state and the city and the county, we don't receive any of those funds," Croswhite said.
Croswhite said that the mission normally has six to 20 volunteers a day, with that number growing to around 100 on the day of the banquet. "We're really hoping that today we'll have 600 to 800 people come through the door."īoth Croswhite and Cox spoke to the importance of volunteers and community support in helping to put on and sponsor the banquet.
The mission prepared 1,200 meals to be served over a four-hour time span, including the meals delivered by shuttle across the city, he said. "When we are hosting a banquet for them, they can feel a sense of personhood - that they're not forgotten." "Our homeless community, especially during the holidays, they feel that society just drives by and they feel at times that they're nobody," Croswhite said. Volunteers also delivered meals to other resource centers and homeless camps on Monday.Ĭhris Croswhite, executive director of the Rescue Mission, said the mission has hosted the same Thanksgiving banquet for at least 20 years. Monday's Thanksgiving banquet included a sit-down meal at the mission, where many of Salt Lake City's homeless gathered to enjoy the typical spread, but were also given access to footwear and clothing as outdoor temperatures have plummeted, as well as the influenza and COVID-19 vaccines. Deidre Henderson serve a Thanksgiving dinner at the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake in Salt Lake City on Monday. "The best way to help the homeless is to partner with one of the homeless providers," he said.Utah Gov. I can love these ladies," Mary said of her job at the women's facility.Ĭroswhite said the mission and other service providers for the homeless would not exist without private donations and corporate sponsorships, and that the mission's objective is to offer a hand up instead of just a handout. "This is the perfect job for me because I know where these ladies have been. Two years ago, they renewed their wedding vows. Ron was released from jail to the mission, where he also worked through the inpatient recovery program. Later she got a bed at the same women's facility where she now works. A man came after me with a pipe, and now half of my face is made of plastic and metal screws." Scars also run the length of her right forearm. "My life was basically in the toilet," Mary said. It was my fault because of what I was doing," she said. The couple separated in 1990, and trouble became part of daily life for both of them. Years ago, Mary's use of prescription drugs for migraines turned into a problem with addiction.
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The couple's experience with the mission has come full circle. Ron is not a mission employee but makes himself available to help out, Mary said. The husband and wife live in a studio apartment at the mission's women's facility where Mary is the house manager.
Mary Louise Long was helping distribute donated clothes at the park. Ron Long was using the van to shuttle people to Pioneer Park for the lunch. Hundreds of those less fortunate gather wait in line for plates of food during an Salt Lake Mission-Subway Restaurants event. The van is used both to pick up donated food and drive mission participants to appointments, like job interviews. Subway also gave the mission $10,000, which will keep a mission van on the road this year. "So today they get something we take for granted." "They could come to the mission and get a meal, but to get a Subway sandwich gives them the same thing you and I could have, and that's important," Croswhite said. The lunch also provides important psychological support for people who, day to day, walk past downtown restaurants and know they can't go in because they have no money. "Our goal is to build relationships with our homeless friends so they will join our inpatient recovery program and get off the streets." "Most of them have been hurt by society so there isn't a lot of trust," he said. The mission currently has 54 people in its New Life program, where participants spend 13 months overcoming addictions, getting more education and work therapy, and then applying for jobs and transitioning into a more productive, stable life.
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