Local News (Editorial)

Make it Our Mission to Build New Shelter
(Eagle Editorial Board)

The word mission has several definitions, as the dictionary tells us. Our community's Twin City Mission embodies all of them. It is a place of refuge, a place where those down on their luck can begin to rebuild their life, a place of safety and security.

Fortunately, most of us have never seen the inside of the Twin City Mission, located in downtown Bryan -- but we should. We should all take a few minutes to tour the facility where so much is done for so little. If any organization is putting the money it receives to good use, it is the Twin City Mission.

For 45 years now, the Mission has served as a "home to the homeless; friend to the friendless; to give hope to the hopeless," as Mission directors like to say. And it is true.

It is easy for us to turn our heads, to pretend that homelessness doesn't exist here, but in our hearts we know this isn't true. We don't have to look hard to see those who, for whatever reason, have no place to go, no place to call home. A recent survey indicates that there are more than 1,000 homeless people in College Station and Bryan, including more than 350 homeless children in Bryan schools.

Sometimes it is a problem of substance abuse, but far less than we might imagine, Mission officials say. In some instances, mental health problems are involved and, to be sure, our federal and state government churlishly are doing less and less to help those people. For some, physical challenges can lead to homelessness. Quite often, it is the loss of a job that leaves an individual or a family unable to find an affordable home. As our economy continues to sour and as the costs of gasoline and food and everything else continue to climb, we expect there will be more homeless people in this latter category.

No one ever thinks he or she will be homeless until it actually happens. If it does, where would you turn? Thankfully, in our community, we have the Twin City Mission, which opens its doors and its arms to those in need.

It's a working mission, though. People who stay there have to work to keep the Mission going. For some, that may be something as simple as sweeping the floors. Others cook or do other tasks, but everyone works.

Too many of us have a negative attitude about those who stay at the Twin City Mission or any homeless shelter in any city. We need to rethink this. No one is at the Mission to have it easy -- life for them is never easy.

Those who arrive at the Mission have to develop a self-sufficiency plan detailing how they will rebuild their life so they can leave the Mission -- and they have to work at it. If they need substance-abuse assistance, they are referred to the proper programs. If they need job training, help creating a résumé, clothing to wear to a job interview, they get it.

Last year, the Mission provided shelter for 1,036 of our neighbors, including 695 men and 211 women who live in separate sections of the facility. A devastating fire in August 2006 took away the Mission's family shelter. Since then, only two sets of bunk beds off the women's shelter are available for families. Most of the time, when a family arrives at the Mission for help, the men are placed in the men's shelter and the women and children go to the women's shelter, although that becomes a problem when the children are older. In fiscal 2007, the Mission housed 50 adults with families and 80 children.

There simply isn't enough space to house any more, and the facilities the Mission uses are old and tired. All the use that can be gotten out of them is over.

Compounding the problem is a decision by Bryan's City Council to make it impossible for the Mission to rebuild where it is or on property it owned in downtown. The Mission and its clients just didn't fit in with the vision of a downtown available to everyone -- except, that is, the poor.

So the Mission sold its land downtown and is planning a wonderful new residential facility on 16.288 acres it bought south and west of downtown. The city has bought its present facilities and has given the mission until June 2009 to be out.

This turns out to be a great opportunity for the Mission and for the community, but we have to act now. The total cost of the new shelter is projected to be some $5.5 million. The Mission has on hand $2,688,102.20 -- a lot of school children have given pennies, nickels and dimes to the project. Thus, the community must raise $3 million to help our neighbors in need to have a decent place to temporarily call home.

Some of that money will come from businesses and large donors, of course. But each of us should give what we can to make this shelter a reality. Times are tough and not likely to get better any time soon. But if each of us gave $5, $10, $50, $100 it would help build a new shelter.

Call it our mission to make sure those who have hit rock bottom can find a way up. We truly are our brothers' keepers.

The new shelter won't be elaborate, but it will be decent and adequate. The number of beds for men will go from 48 to 60; for women, from 12 to 26. There finally will be adequate toilet and shower facilities for both. Perhaps most dramatic will be the area for families. Seven rooms, each with two double beds, room for cribs or extra beds, and each with its own bathroom, are planned. It will be a far cry from what is available now. There will be a chapel and a separate kitchen and dining facility in the new shelter. There also will be separate outdoor areas for men, women and families. No longer will the children in the shelter have to play in the streets.

We can -- we must -- make this happen. Or community is only as strong as the least of us.

Please, take a tour of the existing Mission facilities. You will quickly learn why the new shelter is desperately needed. For more information or to safely donate on line, go to twincitymission.org.

If you have questions, call Ron Crozier at 822-7511.

This is one of the most important projects this community has undertaken. We must not fail.

Published Monday, June 09, 2008