by Rev. Andy on Tuesday, April 26th, 2011, Filed Under Rev Andy's Blog | View Comments
As many of you know, about this time last year we had to have an amazing push at the end of our 2010 fiscal year. We conducted an all-out campaign to save URM’s Hope Gardens Family Center using mail, email, text, twitter, Facebook, YouTube, news media, and personal calls to raise a remarkable $3.8 Million in 37 days. We not only won the Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Achievement Award, but I was named the Fundraising Professional of the Year in the National Fundraiser of the Year Awards held by Fundraising Success Magazine. Most importantly, we saved Hope Gardens and kept over 100 precious moms and children from leaving a place of safety and peace only to return to the mean streets of Skid Row. It was amazing!
This year, when declining giving trends combined with the continued need for services indicated a $1.4 Million dollar deficit was looming, we knew we needed a different approach. Otherwise, we would be putting all that we do, including Hope Gardens, in peril despite the fact that we have cut costs by a mind boggling $2.5 Million so far this year compared to last! We knew that we could not wait for a push and a last minute scramble as we were forced into last year.
We put together a prospectus that showed how we have stepped up to serve three times the number of families, double the people, and double the number of meals since the Great Recession hit so hard in October of 2008. The prospectus also showed the expense reductions we have made, and our sustainability plans for the future, including the introduction of our now very successful Gateway Program, which has high expectations of our guests participating in their own recovery.
I decided to call on 50 of our donors and friends, and we decided that our donor officers would call on another 250, to share the prospectus in an effort to make up the $1.4 Million deficit.
We are making incredible progress, and we are still adding up the fantastic gifts that were the results of these personal meetings, but let me take a moment to share the greatest benefit these calls have been to me.
I have met some of the most remarkable people on the face of the earth. I spent incredible time with one of the greatest aviators in history, 78 years old, still piloting jets at least 3 times per week, with a collection of aircraft that would blow your mind! He gave to URM this year instead of throwing his Christmas party for over 400 people at his company and the local airport. I learned more about airplanes and jets in 2 hours than I had learned in 52 years! His achievements were incredible but his heart for others inspired me!
I also was able to connect and provide a tour to one of the stars of the hit television show GLEE! She and her handsome actor husband took time out of their day to take a tour of URM. Their commitment to Christ and concern for others was very encouraging. Their young age, maturity, love for each other, and generosity to our guests gave me even more hope for our world and the future.
I met another gentleman at his business. He installs home video/audio systems in wealthy homes. I am talking expensive homes! He showed me one $40,000,000 home that he had just placed a Home Theater in! He shared that he was replacing the $250,000 model in his office with a new $500,000 model. I asked if he could donate the old one to the URM Chapel, and he said “Yes!” A customer came in, and he began to tell the customer about URM, and I realized that this business owner is a better salesman for URM than I could ever be! Over lunch, the business owner stated that he wanted to do more with his life. He also let me know that he is an avid surfer at the age of 55! I asked him to come to URM and give tours. “I will do it!” I said, “Beit T’Shuvah’s recovery program has a surfing component. Why couldn’t URM’s recovery program have a surfing component that you could lead?” “Now, that’s what I’m talking about!” he exclaimed! He and his beautiful wife sent me back to the Mission with a generous check and an unbelievable amount of hope.
So far, I have met with 17 of these special friends of Union Rescue Mission. I cannot wait to meet with the rest! I feel it has been the highlight of my time here as CEO! While we are still in the process of solidifying all of our plans for the July 1st start of our new fiscal year, I can tell you one thing for certain. I’m planning on meeting with 100 donors starting in September.
I believe personally meeting with folks and sharing what’s happening at URM is not only the most brilliant strategy we’ve ever employed to raise funds, it’s quite possibly the most rewarding thing I have ever done. I’ve met some of the most remarkable, generous people in the world!
Blessings,
by Rev. Andy on Friday, April 8th, 2011, Filed Under Rev Andy's Blog | View Comments
I had the opportunity to help one of our Security Guards yesterday by taking his post in our dining room for a moment during lunch while he assisted a guest in storing his medicine in a refrigerator. As I watched over the room, one of our guests, coming in late for lunch, asked, “What are you trying to do to us?” He was inquiring about some changes we put into place last Friday, April 1st. I answered, “We are trying to keep this place open, so we do not go broke, and can continue to help everyone. We are also trying to help everyone to help themselves!” He said, “OK. Thank you!”
As you may know, if you have been following us through these challenging times, we’ve tripled the number of families, doubled the number of people housed, and doubled the number of meals served since October 2008 when the recession hit all of us hard. That kind of pressing need, coupled with our donors struggling, and lower giving, is a disastrous combination, and cannot be sustained.
I thought about changes for years, especially in our guests’ program. I came to Union Rescue Mission with a belief and a practice that people respond better when they pay part of their own way, carry their own weight, and if they have a chance to pay something for what they receive it affirms their dignity. I also believed that if you expect a lot you will get a lot. In fact, for years I shared that if you provide 1000 beds in which people can crash in any condition, you will have 1000 people crashing in any condition, but if you provide 1000 beds with accountability and an expectation for people to help themselves, you will have 1000 beds full of people trying to help themselves!
So, faced with an ever uncertain future, an ever growing pressing financial situation, and a dissatisfaction with our guest program, our Senior Leadership Team, encouraged by our Board of Directors, took 2 days away to develop a Sustainability Plan. We were encouraged by our Board to focus on Life Transformation, and that was music to our ears. We decided to allow these tough circumstances to make us think out of the box, and creatively turn these seemingly insurmountable challenges into opportunities for change.
On April 1st, motivated by the strong beliefs mentioned above, and a need to become financially sustainable, we implemented the following changes at URM:
Our 300 guest beds, provided at no charge and with little or no expectations, would be replaced by 300 Gateway Program beds, which would carry with them an expectation of sobriety, attendance at a limited number of classes including Celebrate Recovery, an ability to rest in the bed at any time, a locked foot locker, and a $7.00 per day charge – of which $2.00 per day is a personal savings plan for the participant. Everyone who receives General Relief, and that is nearly 99% of our guests, can afford this program. With the funds raised by the $5.00 per day program fee, URM provides extra case management and home finding assistance. For new participants, the first 5 days are free — giving folks ample time to decide whether to enroll into the Gateway Program or into one of our no charge, long-term recovery programs. (I’ll share more about those in a moment.) In rare exceptions, when no income is available, either I have paid the fee for a guest in rare circumstances, or we work out a volunteer opportunity for someone to serve rather than pay.
We began communicating the changes over one month in advance giving our guests ample time to prepare. A detailed memo reminding everyone of the changes was sent just days before the transition. Our Program Team, led by Chaplain Steve Borja, dealt with the details and when the transition came last week, it was smoother and better than I could have ever imagined! 300 beds in the Guest area vacated, but nearly 150 people determined to help themselves filled the Gateway Beds up!
As part of the transition, we stopped serving single men and single women guests who do not live at URM breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and moved to a lunch only format. Families with children are still welcome to come in from the outside and eat at all three meals. Our live-in guests still are served breakfast lunch and dinner. We utilize the three hour window when we open to outside guests for lunch to allow them to shower, obtain clean clothes, and we recruit and encourage folks to try the Gateway Program or enroll into one of our long-term Life Transformation Programs.
The transition and transformation was amazing! A guest from the Gateway Program thanked me in the hallway. “Andy, thank you for the changes you made! You caused the people who did not want to help themselves and caused all of the problems to leave, and you brought in people who want to help themselves!” I heard people talking in the hallways of “how the tremendous pressure is off”, and “how safe and quiet it is!”
It may sound like tough love, but here are the facts:
When someone comes in they have 5 free days. They can enroll in our Gateway Program, and pay just part of their way (the total cost to URM is $25.00 per day)
Or, they can enroll in our long term (1 year) recovery program. Instead of paying their way, they will be attending 400 hours in the learning center, hundreds of hours of Physical Education, 40 hours of Counseling, hundreds of hours of classes such as Overcoming Addiction, Healthy Relationships, Finances, Dealing With Grief, and spending hundreds of hours volunteering or in work therapy. In other words, they will be earning their keep with their efforts to improve their lives, all free of charge, in an extremely effective program.
As I drove home last Friday, knowing the results of the changeover, I thanked the Lord for a Board that prodded us to think out of the box. I thanked Him for an amazing, detail-oriented, faithful staff that carried out our vision, and I realized that Union Rescue Mission had become a huge successful model of my 1st experience in a Rescue Mission, the Door of Faith Mission in Des Moines, founded by a man who had experienced homelessness himself. George Holloway, who developed a model where the men pay part of their own way, had an expectation of sobriety, a Mission that fed men and women well so that they could go out and work hard and help themselves, and where people’s dignity was fully affirmed!
As I irritatingly say to my wife when I win in a card game, I love it when a plan comes together! God is good!
