A Letter from the Director:
In August of this year, we will celebrate THIRTY-FIVE YEARS of serving the homeless at Inner City Mission. What a milestone! It marks three-and-a-half decades of God’s people coming together to show the love of Jesus Christ to people in need in the Springfield area.
To celebrate this milestone, we plan on hosting a ribbon-cutting ceremony at ICM on August 25th where we hope to unveil something new: A totally-remodeled house on our property that will be the new location of our ICM offices. This two-bedroom Lincoln-era house- known as Miss Daisy’s to most people- sits just north of our two large brick buildings. It has served as our clothing center for more than twenty years.
Miss Daisy passed away a few years ago, and afterward, we spent much time praying and thinking about ways to make optimal use of this two-bedroom house. The overriding NEED that flooded our minds and hearts was additional rooms to house more residents.
Sadly, we turn away more than a dozen families each week due to limited space.
Once the need for more rooms became clear, we soon realized the best way to gain the most living space at ICM would be to relocate our offices to Miss Daisy’s house. This would allow ICM to open up four additional resident rooms in our current office building where we already offer four resident rooms. This would give us a total of 8 resident rooms in that building. Our other brick building- our main shelter called the Lodge- offers 12 resident rooms. So this expansion project will enable us to provide a total of 20 resident rooms for people in need.
That’s a 25% increase in capacity without having to purchase property!
I am happy to announce that the remodeling of Miss Daisy’s house is now underway. Once the blueprints were created, we lined up skillful volunteers and gracious business partners to oversee the project every step of the way. We moved our clothing give-away program to the insulated white garage behind Miss Daisy’s, and in 2018, we began the process of winterizing this historic, worn-out house.
Volunteer groups had already tackled the messy job of gutting it, so we moved forward with installing brand new siding and windows. This year, in 2019, the house has been fitted with new water pipes, and new heating and air conditioning units. Thus far, we have spent a little more than $17,000 on this remodeling project.
We are thrilled to report this money has since been reimbursed to ICM by several churches and individuals who learned about this project and donated funds. We are so grateful for our partners in ministry!
It is now estimated we will need an additional $40,000 to install the electricity, drywall, insulation, flooring, phone/computer network, misc furnishings, and a wheelchair ramp for our soon-to-be-offices. This money would also cover the cost of reworking the rooms in our current office building to accommodate more residents.
Friends, I am excited to share this expansion project with you, but the purpose of my letter this month is two-fold:
First, I want to thank you for your ongoing prayers and faithful support that has allowed ICM to help the homeless for 35 years! We could not have worked on the front lines of homeless ministry for this long without a foundation of caring, generous people standing behind us. All of us at Inner City Mission thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Second, I need to ask you for additional prayers and financial help that will reach a bit higher than your normal gifts to ICM. This will allow us to maintain our current expenses AND finish the work on this life-changing project. This is a win-win for all of us. The far-reaching benefits include not only helping more people in dire need find lasting stability in society, but also gives ICM the ability to usher more souls into the eternal kingdom of God.
And really, isn’t this what it’s about? Don’t we all want to help people find a better life- and an eternal home? Here at Inner City Mission, we get to do just that. We are in the kingdom business of helping the homeless find their way HOME. What a great blessing for everyone involved!
If you would, please fill out the enclosed response card (see front and back) and let us know if you can help. We would love to have you partner with us in this new endeavor. Also, we want to invite you to attend our ribbon-cutting ceremony at ICM on August 25th. Details about this day will be confirmed and sent out in the near future.
Thank you for sharing your love, prayers, and resources with people in need. You are a blessing!
In His Service,
Scott Payne, A minister to the homeless
April 2019