Boise Rescue Mission Ministries History

HISTORY OF BOISE RESCUE MISSION MINISTRIES
1958 - 2008 - Celebrating 50 Years of Service! To God be the Glory!

Fifty years ago, in 1958, a small group of people concerned for the homeless men in Boise started a Mission to help feed and shelter them.

From a small soup kitchen and a few cots, the Boise Rescue Mission has grown to three facilities in Boise and Nampa which serve over eight hundred meals a day to the hungry, provide over 240 people with a bed each night, and change hundreds of lives through the New Life Drug and Alcohol Addiction Recovery Program.

It is the people of the Treasure Valley whose compassion has kept the Mission here for the last fifty years, and we invite you to join with us as we celebrate what God has done in those years, and look forward to fifty more!

To make a special anniversary gift, click here:

1958:

Rev. Charles Bradshaw along with Walter Wilson, a local businessman and leader, began the Christ Rescue Mission located at 217 South Capitol Blvd. Rev. Bradshaw saw a need to reach out to those who were enslaved to the addiction of drugs and alcohol. He served as the Mission's first superintendent from 1958 to 1962.

1959:

By the time of its first anniversary, the Mission had held 303 meetings, fed 1,356 men and provided lodging for 373 of them.

1960:

Rev. Bradshaw referred to the Mission as a labor of love to forgotten men. People said of him that he must love his fellow man because he worked as a warehouseman during the day and operated the Mission at night. The Mission began to provide for the men's immediate needs for food, clothing, shelter and a nightly chapel service.

1962:

In the early 60's, the name of the Mission was changed to Boise Rescue Mission. The number of people in need at that time was overwhelming. During this period, Lewis A. Bartz along with his wife, Leila, accepted the call to serve as the Mission's Director. They were both in their 60's. Mr. Bartz referred to the men that came through the Mission doors as “men on the road”. During these years, the tradition of serving special holiday dinners with all the trimmings was begun.

1970:

In the early 1970's, John Drzewiecki and his wife, Lucille, accepted the call to be the new Mission Director. During John's tenure, the Mission found its ministry in the midst of the Boise City renewal process, and it became clear that it was time for the Mission to expand. God guided John and the current Board's vision to 520 Front Street, which served as the Mission's men's shelter in Boise through 2007, until it was replaced by the River of Life Rescue Mission.

1980:

The Mission purchased the Hertz building adjoining the existing Mission facility and renovated it to be used for the chapel and administration offices.

1982:

Hard times around the country meant “booming business” at the Rescue Mission. The needy had become much younger men in their 20's and they were skilled but laid-off as organizations they worked for went out of business. The average number of meals served per month increased from 1,250 to 2,000 between 1981 and 1982, a 30 to 40 percent increase of services required in one year!

Late 1980s:

The number of women and children seen in the streets began to increase, a trend that continues through today. Boise Rescue Mission was now serving close to 30,000 meals a year, providing over 6,000 beds and the need for clothing items had reached a high. The Mission issued over 10,000 clothing items, a drastic increase from an average of 3,500 required in the early 80's.

Early 1990s:

The Mission's need to provide the basic necessities of life for the homeless mushroomed. Within a few short months, the Mission had served an annual average of 40,000 meals compared to 3,000 meals served in the late 50's. The use of Mission beds increased to more than 10,000 and about 13,500 clothing items were issued. The lack of adequate facilities in the city forced Boise's homeless to seek hideouts along river banks, in abandoned dwellings and under bridges as Nancy Reid printed in The Idaho Statesman, March 29, 1991. The increase of homeless people in the Boise area was partly because of the disappearance of low-income housing and neighborhoods being renovated and property values skyrocketing

1991:

One of the highlights during John and Lucille's leadership happened in 1991. Famous singer and TV personality Tennessee Ernie Ford and his wife had a cabin in Grandjean, Idaho, but it was too snowy to drive up there. They had bought a lot of perishable food and decided to donate it to the Mission. When Ernie brought it in, he told people at the Mission who he was. But some of the clients didn't believe it really was Tennessee Ernie Ford. So Ernie went into the chapel, sat at the piano and started singing Amazing Grace. After that song, they had no doubt it was really him. Later that year, Ernie Ford passed away.

1996:

John and Lucille Drzewiecki, faithful servants, retired June 1, 1996 after 25 years of service. Tony Chung, with his wife Donna, took the reigns as the new Director. Tony's arrival prompted the development of new program concepts including the twelve to eighteen month New Life Discipleship/Recovery Program which makes a significant long-range impact on the lives of men, women and children.

1998:

The Boise Rescue Mission Educational Learning Centers were added to each facility and classes began using NOVA educational software. A facility on 14th Street and Jefferson was purchased for renovation for the Women and Children's Home.

1999:

Recognizing a great need for emergency shelter for men in Nampa, the Mission purchased and renovated the former Holly Nursing Home on Nampa-Caldwell Boulevard, to become the Lighthouse Rescue Mission. Besides serving men for emergency shelter and recovery services, the Lighthouse also provides community dining room for men, women, and children.

2000:

After a successful fundraising campaign, the Mission's City Light Home for Women and Children opened in the former St. Paul's Lutheran Church building in Boise. The newly remodeled facility provided housing for up to 21 women and 14 children in the Bible-based, long-term, addiction recovery program. The Mission also purchased a seven-unit apartment building in the same neighborhood as City Light, where transitional housing for women and children was opened. The house next door to this building was purchased, to be remodeled and used as an administrative center for the Mission.

2001:

The Next Step apartments for graduates of City Light's New Life Program were opened to help women and kids transition into their new and better lives. Executive Director Tony Chung moved to take a position as the director of another mission.

2002:

The board called Rev. William Roscoe as Director. Bill, a former construction supervisor, had been the Executive Director in Redding, California for the previous five years and had also served at the Redwood Gospel Mission, in Santa Rosa California and the Denver Rescue Mission.

2003:

Due to an increasing demand for emergency services for women and children, a 26-bed dorm was added to City Light. Later that year, the administrative offices of the Mission were relocated from the Front Street Mission to the renovated building at 1415 West Jefferson Street, Boise, allowing for the addition of 20 beds for shelter at Front Street facility.

2004:

Looking to the future, the Mission purchased the property immediately adjacent to the Lighthouse Mission in Nampa planning to building transitional housing for men and a retail facility on that site.

2005:

The City of Boise, having taken over the operation of the Community House, sought non-profit agencies to take over the building and services provided there. The Mission was the only agency to propose taking on the men's shelter. After more than 18 months of negotiation, the Mission leased, with the option to purchase, the Community House building from the City of Boise and re-opened the shelter as the River of Life Rescue Mission for single men. A capital fundraising campaign to buy the building and to complete the transitional housing project in Nampa was launched.

2006:

Ground was broken on the property adjacent to the Lighthouse Rescue Mission, beginning construction on twelve units of transitional housing.

2007:

The Mission completed the purchase of the River of Life Rescue Mission from the City of Boise, and began the transition of all operations for men in Boise from the building at 520 Front Street to the River. In the fall, the Next Step Apartments in Nampa were completed and put directly to use housing graduates of the New Life Program. As well, a brand new kitchen was built on to the River of Life, with storage and food preparation capacity that enables the staff to serve almost five hundred meals a day!

2008:

This year, the Mission anticipates adding more bathrooms and shower facilities to the River of Life, which will increase the capacity for emergency shelter, New Life Program members, and other men in need!