GIVE A MEAL. CHANGE A LIFE.
Just $2.65 is enough to provide a Thanksgiving meal for someone in need in Santa Barbara.
THEIR LAST HOPE
Right now, we have neighbors who are hungry, homeless, addicted, and trapped in despair.
The Mission is the only place between Ventura and Santa Maria that is
OPEN 365 DAYS A YEAR,
for many people, the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission is their last stop. Their last hope. Their last chance.
With the support of people like you, each year we can:
Serve 100,000 meals
Provide 45,000 nights of shelter
Only One Rescue Mission
In my 46 years of law enforcement service, I have often come into contact with society’s outcasts –– drunks, drug addicts, street people, prostitutes, vagrants, and petty criminals. For years, our approach was simply to arrest and incarcerate these people. Nail ‘em and jail ‘em, as the saying goes. The problem was that the same people kept coming back to the streets, and then getting sent back to jail. It was a seemingly endless cycle, but what else could we do? We discovered we needed partnerships, like our partnership with the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission. The Rescue Mission is what every community needs desperately –– a place where broken lives can be rebuilt.
– Bill Brown, Santa Barbara County Sheriff
Every meal you give can become
part of the story of a changed life for someone like Hopper.
10 Years of Meals Led to Lasting Change
Hopper was 9 when he discovered drugs and alcohol. By 13, he says he was already an alcoholic and addict. Eventually, he ended up angry and bitter on the streets. But we could tell that underneath the anger there was a man battling deeply damaging trauma who desperately needed God’s healing. So we were kind to Hopper every chance we got. And for 10 years, he survived on meals from the Mission — meals that friends like you provided.
Then, one day, when he decided he was finally ready to make a change, he knew we were the best place to come. So he came in, and we accepted him into our 12-month Residential Recovery Program. He graduated from our program in 2008, and in the past 15 years he hasn’t relapsed — not once. Today, he has an associates degree in drug and alcohol counseling, a place of his own, a car, a job, and a dog.
Now, he works as an advocate for the homeless community, steering people to the Mission when he can, being a loving presence and a voice for those who can’t stand up for themselves.
But where would Hopper be today if friends like you hadn’t made sure he had good meals to eat? Only God knows, but we have a feeling it wouldn’t be good.
We do it together, or it doesn't get done.
Rolf Geyling | President
Overcoming the trauma of hunger, homelessness, and addiction is hard. It’s painful. And it can’t be done alone.
But with the right support, the right treatment plan, the right tools, and a foundation of Jesus Christ, anyone can overcome addiction and homelessness. Hopper is proof.
It wasn’t until he finally surrendered and asked for help that his life began to change. The truth is, none of us get through the hardest parts of life alone.
We need each other. We need Jesus.
And those two things, community and Jesus, are what the Santa Barbara Rescue Mission is all about.
We can’t turn on the lights, open our doors, turn on the oven, feed people, or help them change their lives without the support of people like you.
The holiday season is our biggest time of the year. That means not only do we need more food, but we have more opportunities to build relationships, share God’s love, and help people experience lasting transformation. Will you be a part of it?
Together we will make a difference!
“God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.”
– John 3:17 (NLT)
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Santa Barbara Rescue Mission
535 E. Yanonali Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Phone: 805-966-1316
Fax: 805-966-7495
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