Waterfront Rescue Mission

Founded in 1949, Waterfront Rescue Mission provides rehabilitative services to underserved people and those suffering from substance abuse and other life-dominating issues. In 2024, the Mission served 181,129 meals, provided 71,940 nights of shelter, distributed over 4,000 pieces of clothing, and 3,000 household items to families in need. Waterfront Rescue Mission helps men and women address the challenges of life-dominating issues. Healing and restoration are the goals of this bible-based model that promotes transformed, productive members of the community. Through the lifebuilder recovery program, the Mission helps men overcome life- dominating addictions through the faith-based addiction recovery curriculum, the genesis process, as well as through intensive counseling, job training, financial literacy classes, and housing assistance to ensure participants are equipped to become and remain productive members of society. The Mission's veterans care program serves homeless military veterans by coordinating with the u.s. department of veterans affairs to provide guidance in obtaining benefits and affordable housing. The Mission's arukah respite center offers a safe environment with medical beds for ill or injured homeless men and women to recuperate immediately following a hospital discharge. The Mission's day resource center provides services to help underserved men, women, and children with mail and phone services, bag storage, clothing and hygiene items, spiritual counseling, meals, and laundering and shower provisions. Through the Mission's various sites and programs, men and women have the opportunity to learn valuable work skills such as forklift certification, merchandising, production, register training, customer services, and cooking. The ultimate goal of Waterfront Rescue Mission is to provide a hand up, and not just a hand out, to men and women suffering from life-dominating issues.

Waterfront Rescue Mission's recycling & donation center processes, on average, 1,650 tons of in-kind donated recyclable materials annually. Materials are donated on-site and collected from thrift stores as an intentional effort to reduce the local environment impacts caused by the over usage of area landfills. The Mission makes every effort to reduce, reuse, and recycle. In-kind donations which are not deemed safe or resalable at its thrift stores are immediately evaluated, dismantled as necessary, and sorted into recyclable components. In turn, salvaged materials are resold at current market values to provide transformative services for the underserved and those striving to overcome substance abuse and other life-dominating issues as participants work through the Mission's life-changing programs. Additionally, the management and staff of the recycling & donation center work closely with program clients and employees to improve environmental awareness and to provide job skills training as they model christian integrity, strong work ethic, and stewardship as an investment back into the community.

In-kind donations processed and resold through Waterfront Rescue Mission's supporting thrift stores ministry affords shoppers within the missions' communities to purchase affordable, high-quality clothing, shoes, household goods, and gently-used home furnishings at exceptional values. In turn, the proceeds generated from the thrift stores are used to provide transformative services for the underserved and those striving to overcome substance abuse and other life-dominating issues as participants work through the Mission's life-changing programs. Additionally, the management and staff of the thrift stores work closely with program clients, employees, volunteers, and court-ordered community service programs to teach job skills, customer service, and teamwork, as well as to model christian integrity and strong work ethic as an investment back into the community. The Waterfront thrift stores have earned several customer choice awards for "best thrift stores" on the gulf coast.