City Mission residents thank Wash High for help
City Mission residents thanked Washington School District Tuesday for its support in the months following a devastating fire June 9 that destroyed the mission’s three men’s dormitories, kitchen and dining hall.
Nearly a dozen residents and staff members sang Christmas carols for the Washington High School student body and mission Chief Executive Officer Dean Gartland presented Washington School District Superintendent Roberta DiLorenzo with the Good Samaritan Award for the district’s help after the fire.
Displaced City Mission residents used the school’s cafeteria as a makeshift shelter for three months, and about 50 homeless men slept on Red Cross cots set up there.
The school’s football team and band raised about $3,200 for the mission in a citywide can donation campaign.
An additional $176 was raised Monday at the district’s band and chorus concert.
“You all gave and gave and gave. We’re able to keep on going because people like you keep on giving,” said Wendy Barbeau, director of programs at the mission.
Dr. Sally Mounts, director of development at the mission, said the staff and residents have several activities planned to thank the Washington County community for rallying around the mission and its residents.
“We feel it’s important to give back, and to thank the people in the region who have been so good to us,” she said.
City Mission residents also plan to go Christmas caroling at Presbyterian Senior Care and Kade Nursing Home.
They baked cookies and made toiletry bags for the elderly, and will do craft activities for them as well.
Mounts said the residents want to “pay it forward.”
Said DiLorenzo, “We appreciated the opportunity to assist you. It gave us a chance to live out our motto to model the behavior you expect and support each other.”
The mission serves about 92,000 meals a year and provides shelter to approximately 100 men, women and children.
Currently, men are living in a nine-trailer complex near Hidden Treasure Thrift Store at Beau and Chestnut streets in Washington.
In October, the mission broke ground on a 96-bed men’s shelter, which will be complete by August 2016.
Mounts said the mission also plans to break ground on a 22-bed veterans’ shelter in August, renovate the Avis Arbor Women’s Shelter and renovate the iconic church building that was damaged by the fire.
“Thanks to the wonderful support of Washington County and the surrounding area, and that includes schools, churches, individuals, businesses, lemonade stands, you name it, we did not lose one day of program time,” said Mounts. “We were able to provide shelter and three meals a day without interruption. If there’s a wondrful Christmas gift for City Mission, it’s living in this city.”