Hometown Hero: Atlantic City Rescue Mission
By Maddy Vitale
ATLANTIC CITY – The Atlantic City Rescue Mission is gearing up to provide hundreds of hot meals for the homeless and anyone else who wishes to join them on Thanksgiving.
Like every year since the mission opened its doors in 1964, giving and helping those less fortunate is what the mission is all about.
“We try to feed as many people as possible with a very large Thanksgiving dinner for our guests,” Howard Hirsch, director of development for the Atlantic City Rescue Mission, said Nov. 10.
The Atlantic City Rescue Mission is a Christian-based mission, is nearly 100 percent privately funded and does not receive any government money. The focus is to provide emotional and basic needs such as shelter, clothing, food, counseling and programs for those in need.
But the mission is not a hotel, Hirsch stressed. The focus is on improving the lives of homeless people and getting them into programs that will assist them in leading productive and happy lives.
And it starts with giving people the specific help they need.
The focus is restoring people to their own means. “We try to get people in programs right away and have a foundation through God to not repeat bad choices,” Hirsch said.
Last week alone, 80 people stayed at the mission and 70 were in programs. There is a five-night maximum allowable stay for those who are not in some sort of program.
“For people who want to come in and lay around all day, this isn’t for them,” Hirsch said. “This is a place where we find out the issues and try and address them.”
Close to 50 percent of those who come to the mission are from Atlantic City and 20 percent to 30 percent are from other parts of Atlantic County, Hirsch said.
The ultimate goal is to help the homeless, and provide shelter and food. When temperatures dip, it is paramount that people in need have shelter, warmth and food. The mission provides the essential needs.
And on any given day, the mission serves about 530 meals with the help of many volunteers. There is no way to know the exact number of people at the mission, since the number is fluid and the mission never turns anyone away. However, the maximum capacity is 350 people. There is a men’s floor, a women’s floor and a family center.
Every year the mission helps more than 3,300 homeless people in the area and many more people who just need to come in for a warm meal or pick up a food basket.
“If you look right now, the rest of the country is building, and things are coming back, but Atlantic County is not. We are in the top in foreclosures. Atlantic County has not recovered. Look at the amount of jobs lost and not replaced,” Hirsch said.
And while major companies could be coming to the resort in the future, it could take years to see the benefit of new jobs. “We’ve been behind the rest of the country,” Hirsch noted.
With casino closings, Hirsch said the people who used to be so giving – those in the service industry – are now clients of the mission.
“It is so sad,” Hirsch said.
For those struggling throughout Atlantic County, the mission is here to help with emergency food baskets. The baskets consist of about a week’s worth of non-perishable foods. That means a person could use their money to pay rent, the mortgage or utility costs instead of for food. It could mean the difference between being homeless or keeping one’s home, Hirsch said.
The baskets are available Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 11 a.m. A person can go to the mission and show ID to get a food basket.
Hirsch said people are so generous over the holidays. People donate their time and their funds. But people have to remember that the homeless have needs year-round.
“During Thanksgiving, everyone gives a lot. It is our biggest time of year to get donations,” Hirsch said.
Christmas is also a time when a lot of people donate, he noted.
“It’s the first week of January through March that everything stops,” he said.
The mission has several fundraisers to help offset costs in those months.
“We just want to get people off the streets and help them get into programs,” Hirsch said. “Helping people is what the mission is all about.”
The Atlantic City Rescue Mission is at 2009 Bacharach Boulevard in Atlantic City. For more information visit https://www.acrescuemission.org/ or call Howard Hirsch at 609-345-5517 ext. 113.
If you know of someone extraordinary or an organization that does wonderful things, we want to know about it. Email Shore Local at shorelocalnews@gmail.com.
