We are rapidly coming to completion on our transitional Apartment B, and in a few short days will have it finished and ready to be occupied. We currently have a gentleman who moved from homelessness to a shelter in town. He has expended a high number of sweat equity hours helping to remodel the apartment we have promised to him; we are grateful for those that have volunteered to help work and provide contractor guidance; and we are grateful to those who have funded and made in-kind contributions toward it's completion. This completes all the rebuilding and remodeling on our building, except for the final exterior coat of paint on the entire building which will be accomplished next Spring.
The transitional housing may be occupied shortly.
Please keep the transition in your prayers and during this holiday season keep those less fortunate than you in your mind.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
March 2009 -- Emerging to Serve
Good afternoon all,
The Board of Directors at CrossRoads Mission want to thank each and every one of you who support our local mission in any fashion with their time, talent, and treasure. March has been our first month in full operation since the epic flood of 2008, and since we began full services to those less fortunate than ourselves operating in the new rebuilt mission location.
This months statistics exceeds all previous months since we began the mission in 2006. We provided, through your Christian generosity, 92 more families with food, showers, clothing, counseling, job search support, baby needs, personal items, and spiritual support over our previous high of 425 families prior to the flood.
Our baby needs for diapers of all sizes, pull ups of all sizes, wipes, etc. have signficantly increased and we need your support. Personal care items like toothpaste, brushes, combs, etc. are flying off the shelf and we again need your support in this area. Food is flying off the shelf faster than ever before, and we need your financial support to purchase increased amounts of food from the HACAP Food Resevoir, as well as food donations from individuals and congregations.
March statistics are:
193 Family Units
517 Folks Received Food
224 Folks Received Free Donated Clothing
Our increased needs are generated not only from those living in the culture of poverty but, those new to poverty due to the flood of 2008, and those reduced to poverty due to the deep recession we are experiencing.
Yours in Christ,
Pat Kane, Diaconal Minister
Friday, March 6, 2009
First Week - Successes
Good evening all,
We have now been open in our new location for one week. In that first week our statistics are:
39 Family Units Served.
2 Family Units Rescued From Homelessness.
118 People in poverty received food.
Your major gift of Christian love this week fed and moved a family of three, the youngest a three-year-old child, from homlessness to a local shelter. We will continue to work with the family next week as we explore employment and potential housing opportunities in the future.
Your gifts of prayer, dollars, and volunteer time do make a difference in the lives of God's children who are less fortunate than ourselves. God bless, and thank you!
Yours in Christ,
Pat Kane, Diaconal Minister
CrossRoads Mission
1006 - 2nd Street SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Phone: 319.365.0707
www.crossroads-mission.com
We have now been open in our new location for one week. In that first week our statistics are:
39 Family Units Served.
2 Family Units Rescued From Homelessness.
118 People in poverty received food.
Your major gift of Christian love this week fed and moved a family of three, the youngest a three-year-old child, from homlessness to a local shelter. We will continue to work with the family next week as we explore employment and potential housing opportunities in the future.
Your gifts of prayer, dollars, and volunteer time do make a difference in the lives of God's children who are less fortunate than ourselves. God bless, and thank you!
Yours in Christ,
Pat Kane, Diaconal Minister
CrossRoads Mission
1006 - 2nd Street SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
Phone: 319.365.0707
www.crossroads-mission.com
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Mission to Reopen in New Location
CrossRoads Mission has risen above the flood and will reopen at its new location, 1006 Second St SW. The efforts to come back from the 2008 flood is detailed in an article published in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on February 28, 2009.
Rossiter, Molly. (February 28, 2009) "Faith & Values: A Mission Rebuilt." Cedar Rapids Gazette. pages 1B, 6B. Locate the story online by visiting http://www.gazetteonline.com
Rossiter tells of the mission's long road to recovery and its reemergence in the area that it serves. Now in a newly renovated building, the mission which once served over 350 clients, now has climbed back up to serving 300 with more expected as the mission moves back into the neighborhood the mission is serving. The Gazette article chronicles the rise out of the floodwaters and shines the light on this mission's work.
smc.
Rossiter, Molly. (February 28, 2009) "Faith & Values: A Mission Rebuilt." Cedar Rapids Gazette. pages 1B, 6B. Locate the story online by visiting http://www.gazetteonline.com
Rossiter tells of the mission's long road to recovery and its reemergence in the area that it serves. Now in a newly renovated building, the mission which once served over 350 clients, now has climbed back up to serving 300 with more expected as the mission moves back into the neighborhood the mission is serving. The Gazette article chronicles the rise out of the floodwaters and shines the light on this mission's work.
smc.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Update
CrossRoads Mission will be closed between Monday, February 23 and Monday, March 2. It will open on March 3 (our usual hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4: p.m.) as long as we have an occupancy permit and legal to be open to the public. If not on March 3, as soon as possible working with the City of Cedar Rapids inspectors. We are very close to ramping up to full services for those in poverty, impacted by the flood of 2008, and the increasing number of folks we are seeing who are falling into poverty as a result of the deteriorating economy.
We still have a lot of work remaining on our transitional housing apartment B, and when warm weather arrives exterior work; including installation of the remaining windows, exterior painting, tuck pointing new block installed, landscaping, and a North driveway with parking lot in the rear of the building all of which will require financial support and volunteer efforts. We want to thank all the congregations, businesses, individuals providing financial donations, and the volunteers (over 90 to date) who have stepped forward to share their skills of all kinds to help us in the rebuilding of CrossRoads Mission. More financial help will be needed just to complete the building, as well as helping those who "are the least of these" that so desperately need our help. We especially want to thank Al Millen who has been the focal point of the volunteer corps since October 1st when we purchased the building. Al was the guy, a strong Christian, that has been there six days a week, kept the volunteer logs, and performed a lot of the labor alongside everyone (contractors and volunteers) these past months.
More detailed thank you notes and letters will be forthcoming after the move, and after we have mailed our guest list that we have relocated. As I have watched CrossRoads Mission rise out of the flood waters, and written the checks, and looked to the fantastic Board of Directors we have for advice to guide my decision-making, watched our contractors, congregational partners, business partners, and all the volunteers perform God's work in building a new facility for CrossRoads Mission beyond anyone's expectations; it has exceeded my personal human vision and expectations. Numerous times I had said, "I don't have the money in the budget," and found volunteers laying down their tools to go out to raise more money. My prayers of thanksgiving, for the way God is working in so many ways in the flood zone through all of you, are without limits. We now need to look to the exterior of the building as the weather changes this Spring. God Bless!
We still have a lot of work remaining on our transitional housing apartment B, and when warm weather arrives exterior work; including installation of the remaining windows, exterior painting, tuck pointing new block installed, landscaping, and a North driveway with parking lot in the rear of the building all of which will require financial support and volunteer efforts. We want to thank all the congregations, businesses, individuals providing financial donations, and the volunteers (over 90 to date) who have stepped forward to share their skills of all kinds to help us in the rebuilding of CrossRoads Mission. More financial help will be needed just to complete the building, as well as helping those who "are the least of these" that so desperately need our help. We especially want to thank Al Millen who has been the focal point of the volunteer corps since October 1st when we purchased the building. Al was the guy, a strong Christian, that has been there six days a week, kept the volunteer logs, and performed a lot of the labor alongside everyone (contractors and volunteers) these past months.
More detailed thank you notes and letters will be forthcoming after the move, and after we have mailed our guest list that we have relocated. As I have watched CrossRoads Mission rise out of the flood waters, and written the checks, and looked to the fantastic Board of Directors we have for advice to guide my decision-making, watched our contractors, congregational partners, business partners, and all the volunteers perform God's work in building a new facility for CrossRoads Mission beyond anyone's expectations; it has exceeded my personal human vision and expectations. Numerous times I had said, "I don't have the money in the budget," and found volunteers laying down their tools to go out to raise more money. My prayers of thanksgiving, for the way God is working in so many ways in the flood zone through all of you, are without limits. We now need to look to the exterior of the building as the weather changes this Spring. God Bless!
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Update - Flood Recovery
Slowly our Guests at the mission are finding their way to us in our temporary home at Hope Lutheran Church in Cedar Rapids, and we are registering new Guests thrust into poverty by the flood. Each week, over the past two months, we have begun to see an increase in Guests needing help. The numbers are increasing faster than they did at our start up as a mission. The members of Hope Lutheran have been gracious hosts with a huge heart for Christian hospitality giving us temporary space to work from while we look for a new home for the mission.
We have looked at several buildings, and even placed an offer on one but, we have not found the right one to purchase or rent yet. We are still looking, and last Sunday began advertising our need for a commercial building in the local newspaper (trust me, we are not being too picky). It is our fervent prayer that we can locate a new home before winter arrives, and we can be running at full capacity. The Farmers Almanac, which has an accuracy rate of 80-85% on it's weather forecasts is predicting an early and extremely harsh winter. Our need is great to be prepared to provide those in poverty and those displaced by the epic flood of 2008 in Linn County with support services that the governmental agencies cannot provide.
The U. S. Congress went on vacation, our state elected officials have been immobilized not knowing what the federal folks are doing in terms of dollars they will send to Iowa for flood disaster relief, and the executive and legislative branches of our state government here in Iowa did not have a plan in place to even begin to respond to the natural disasters of the magnitude experienced in the State of Iowa during 2008. As a result a lot of decisions from the county and city elected officials have been delayed by silence from the federal and state government to date. As a result, flood victims frustration levels of indecision from governmental bodies has continued to grow. Some groups have begun to form informal coalitions, and begun to proceed forward preparing to open businesses, and especially, as winter is rapidly approaching, to make homes livable, or simply just walking away.
At the same time the volunteers and faith communities are ramping up to meet the needs here in Linn County. Our local political leadership asked United Way of East Central Iowa to form what has come to be called the Linn Area Long Term Recovery Coalition (LALTRC) to manage the long term recovery response. A sub-set of that group are the faith communities. At the local level we have formed Faithful Response which is a committee for all clergy and lay leaders from all the faith communities in the Linn County area, and chaired by Pastor Tom Carver (UMC). They have elected Brook Lukes, the director of Churches United, to be their representative to the LALTRC. Brooke meets weekly with LALTRC, and monthly there is an assembly of all those who choose to join Faithful Response.
CrossRoads Mission is involved with Faithful Response, and Pat Kane sits on the Wisdom Group that meets weekly with Brooke Lukes along with other leaders in faith communities throughout Linn County to support her. The process of LALTRC - Faithful Response - Faithful Response Wisdom Group in its first month has worked well for those in the faith communities who have chosen to be an active part of our long term recovery which is projected to be several years due to the significant loss we experienced. We in the faith community need to be present to have a positive impact on the human spiritual suffering, and present to relieve the human physical and emotional suffering, filling in the cracks where governments fail to provide support.
The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is about half way through the assessment portion of the faith communities national and statewide response to the floods and tornadoes. This is the first step in long term recovery by the faith community. The assessments will provide a more accurate picture to follow on groups as to what is needed in everything from mental health to volunteers to donations, even to how many toilet bowls we will need as we rebuild.
Church World Service is currently doing assessments, training of local groups, and preparing to get publicity out to all the major faith communities at the national level. Pat Kane has been attending flood training this past week with other faith and non profit agencies to understand the magnitude of the interfaith groups that are beginning to put "boots on the ground" here in Linn County.
Catholic Charities Flood Response and Lutheran Disaster Response will begin working with local agencies in Case Advocacy as soon as the assessments have been completed. Case plans will be developed as to the kinds of support each family unit requires, and they will have an advocate to help walk them through the maze of recovery. The United Methodist Committee on Relief, Presbyterian Disaster Response, as well as others currently have "boots on the ground" here in Linn County. As we enter September 2008 we will begin to see the faith communities response to our disaster swell in dollars, in-kind donations, and volunteers as we move into Spring 2009.
The largest and greatest need now and in the future will be housing volunteers who come into Linn County to help us finish the clean up and begin the rebuilding process. In a recent conversation with Pastor Michael Stadie who currently is the Lutheran Disaster Response Coordinator for Lutheran Services in Iowa, Chair of the Iowa Disaster Human Resources Committee's Long Term Recovery Committee has told us that a volunteer center (to house, feed, and provide shower facilities) will not be built in this area like they were in Katrina. The national funds are not available for this $1million plus venture. This means we need to get serious about housing these high value volunteers in our churches, schools, and homes. We need to become creative in how we can accommodate those willing to help us rebuild our communities. The old paradigms we use that block our participation in housing volunteers, for whatever reason, need to be broken. Then we need to develop new paradigms which allow us to open our buildings and homes in faith to those that are willing to enter our communities and restore us spiritually, mentally, physically.
Yours in Christ,
Pat Kane, Diaconal Minister
We have looked at several buildings, and even placed an offer on one but, we have not found the right one to purchase or rent yet. We are still looking, and last Sunday began advertising our need for a commercial building in the local newspaper (trust me, we are not being too picky). It is our fervent prayer that we can locate a new home before winter arrives, and we can be running at full capacity. The Farmers Almanac, which has an accuracy rate of 80-85% on it's weather forecasts is predicting an early and extremely harsh winter. Our need is great to be prepared to provide those in poverty and those displaced by the epic flood of 2008 in Linn County with support services that the governmental agencies cannot provide.
The U. S. Congress went on vacation, our state elected officials have been immobilized not knowing what the federal folks are doing in terms of dollars they will send to Iowa for flood disaster relief, and the executive and legislative branches of our state government here in Iowa did not have a plan in place to even begin to respond to the natural disasters of the magnitude experienced in the State of Iowa during 2008. As a result a lot of decisions from the county and city elected officials have been delayed by silence from the federal and state government to date. As a result, flood victims frustration levels of indecision from governmental bodies has continued to grow. Some groups have begun to form informal coalitions, and begun to proceed forward preparing to open businesses, and especially, as winter is rapidly approaching, to make homes livable, or simply just walking away.
At the same time the volunteers and faith communities are ramping up to meet the needs here in Linn County. Our local political leadership asked United Way of East Central Iowa to form what has come to be called the Linn Area Long Term Recovery Coalition (LALTRC) to manage the long term recovery response. A sub-set of that group are the faith communities. At the local level we have formed Faithful Response which is a committee for all clergy and lay leaders from all the faith communities in the Linn County area, and chaired by Pastor Tom Carver (UMC). They have elected Brook Lukes, the director of Churches United, to be their representative to the LALTRC. Brooke meets weekly with LALTRC, and monthly there is an assembly of all those who choose to join Faithful Response.
CrossRoads Mission is involved with Faithful Response, and Pat Kane sits on the Wisdom Group that meets weekly with Brooke Lukes along with other leaders in faith communities throughout Linn County to support her. The process of LALTRC - Faithful Response - Faithful Response Wisdom Group in its first month has worked well for those in the faith communities who have chosen to be an active part of our long term recovery which is projected to be several years due to the significant loss we experienced. We in the faith community need to be present to have a positive impact on the human spiritual suffering, and present to relieve the human physical and emotional suffering, filling in the cracks where governments fail to provide support.
The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee is about half way through the assessment portion of the faith communities national and statewide response to the floods and tornadoes. This is the first step in long term recovery by the faith community. The assessments will provide a more accurate picture to follow on groups as to what is needed in everything from mental health to volunteers to donations, even to how many toilet bowls we will need as we rebuild.
Church World Service is currently doing assessments, training of local groups, and preparing to get publicity out to all the major faith communities at the national level. Pat Kane has been attending flood training this past week with other faith and non profit agencies to understand the magnitude of the interfaith groups that are beginning to put "boots on the ground" here in Linn County.
Catholic Charities Flood Response and Lutheran Disaster Response will begin working with local agencies in Case Advocacy as soon as the assessments have been completed. Case plans will be developed as to the kinds of support each family unit requires, and they will have an advocate to help walk them through the maze of recovery. The United Methodist Committee on Relief, Presbyterian Disaster Response, as well as others currently have "boots on the ground" here in Linn County. As we enter September 2008 we will begin to see the faith communities response to our disaster swell in dollars, in-kind donations, and volunteers as we move into Spring 2009.
The largest and greatest need now and in the future will be housing volunteers who come into Linn County to help us finish the clean up and begin the rebuilding process. In a recent conversation with Pastor Michael Stadie who currently is the Lutheran Disaster Response Coordinator for Lutheran Services in Iowa, Chair of the Iowa Disaster Human Resources Committee's Long Term Recovery Committee has told us that a volunteer center (to house, feed, and provide shower facilities) will not be built in this area like they were in Katrina. The national funds are not available for this $1million plus venture. This means we need to get serious about housing these high value volunteers in our churches, schools, and homes. We need to become creative in how we can accommodate those willing to help us rebuild our communities. The old paradigms we use that block our participation in housing volunteers, for whatever reason, need to be broken. Then we need to develop new paradigms which allow us to open our buildings and homes in faith to those that are willing to enter our communities and restore us spiritually, mentally, physically.
Yours in Christ,
Pat Kane, Diaconal Minister
Monday, July 14, 2008
Interested in Volunteering - Flood Clean-up
If you want to volunteer in the Linn County/Cedar Rapids, Iowa flood zones call: 319-540-4810.
If you need volunteers to help you or someone you know call: 319-540-4815.
If you need volunteers to help you or someone you know call: 319-540-4815.
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