More than 4,000 Durham-area kids got a back-to-school boost from the Durham Rescue Mission and GlaxoSmithKline. Supplies, clothing, and hot dogs were all part of the annual event — and no government funding was involved. This was made possible with private funds and volunteer help.
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17
2012 At 4:50 pm, Dr_Mills Said:
Donna, Thanks for letting the community know what we are doing at the Mission to help children get a good start in school!
With today’s news about unemployment ticking up in the Triangle,
I thought you might be interested in what the Mission is doing to make a difference:
NC Unemployment rate increased to 9.6%
Instead of “cursing the darkness” Durham Rescue Mission is “lighting a candle”…….creating 34 new jobs
High unemployment rate affects Durham Rescue Mission in several ways:
•Increase in those coming to Mission for help …. Up 31% over last year
•Increase in operating cost ….. Up 7.3% over last year
•More difficult for residents to get jobs
Ernie Mills, Founder of Durham Rescue Mission said “During my 44 years of ministry to the homeless I have seen how difficult it is for recovered drug addicts, the homeless and ex-prisoners, who have paid their debt to society, to find jobs, even in a good economy. Employers are reluctant to hire them because of potential problems. We started thinking ‘outside the box’ and said ‘Why don’t we start a temp agency and if there are problems, we will handle them for the employers?’! In 2000 the Durham Rescue Mission started an employment agency, Temps to the Rescue, as an inventive way to help homeless men and women find jobs to enable them to get back on their feet. Last year 140 homeless people got jobs through our Temps to the Rescue”!
Once again, the Durham Rescue Mission is “thinking outside the box” on how to get jobs for the homeless to help them get back on their feet!
In 6 to 8 weeks the Durham Rescue Mission will be opening a third thrift store located on Chapel Hill Blvd in Durham. This store will need 34 employees to fully operate this new facility (which will be the Triangle’s largest thrift store…30,000 square feet). Our other 2 thrift stores provide jobs for 42 people.
On Labor Day, we will begin accepting applications at our new thrift store, located at 3900 Chapel Hill Blvd (right across the road from Sam’s Club) for the 34 positions that need to be filled. Labor Day is when a lot of people take their last beach vacation but there are 12.7 million unemployed (according to AP News article “Weak US hiring expected for fourth straight month”) in our country who would love to be filling out a job application instead of being at the beach!
During this difficult time, instead of cursing the economic darkness, the Durham Rescue Mission is finding ways to “light 34 candles” through creating social enterprises that will become a beacon of hope to some of the most vulnerable folks in our community.