URM.org’s Mission is to embrace people with the compassion of Christ. We strive for an environment & have a comprehensive approach & teach God’s Word in order to transform the lives of our guests.
It works… 25% of our staff are former guests!
Together we follow God’s word in the command to Rescue.
Proverbs 24:11-12 ESV
Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?
Psalm 82:3-4 ESV
Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Recently a friend wrote about the term Rescue being a an Unsettling Word. It was stated “We’re finding that the word rescue is getting more and more pushback these days from younger Christ-followers. They say it produces an uneven power dynamic between the “rescuer” and “rescuee”; they believe that such terminology is problematic because it inhibits the path to healing and survival for the person being helped—whether it be victims of human trafficking, survivors of a hurricane, or homeless addicts strung out on meth.”
He continued;“For certain, a lot of the people now starting to come up through the ranks in missions do not want to identify with the image of a hero in a cape swooping down to pluck desperate and destitute people out of their misery and “fix” them. (Nor do they want to deal with the questions that brings up about motives.) Instead, they prefer to be seen as journeying alongside them, in their own brokenness, making their way together toward wholeness.”
I want you to know, if my loved one is being trafficked, I want a hero to rescue them. If I am ever swept up in a flood or a hurricane, I don’t want you to jump in the water & tread water & journey with me, and if you were to find me living on the streets, please don’t join me. Be my hero, offer me a place. Rescue me.
The license plate on my car is is a thanks to God & in honor of my wife, URSQDME.
Five years ago my wife Bonnie provided her kidney to me. She saved my life. She could have held my hand & journeyed through 5 years of dialysis, but she heard the doctors prognosis & she rescued me. She is a hero.
There is nothing wrong with heroes. If you do this rescue work, you are a hero. We need more heroes.
At Union Rescue Mission, we answer the call 24/7/365.
We not only never turn away a family with children or a woman who comes to our door, we rarely refer a man elsewhere as well.
When I received a call on January 1st from a mom with 6 young children that another agency put on the curb on a holiday after their 90 days had run out, I jumped in my truck (license plate URESCU2) :), and picked the mom & children up and all of their belongings, and delivered them to our 4th floor. They are now safe & sound at our Hope Gardens Family Center.
On a cold night in February, I was out of town, & received a call from a Facebook friend about a woman who was out in the cold & unable to walk due to blisters on her feet. I called our team and they went to her and joined my Facebook friend in pleading with the woman to come in. She refused. Our team and friend called the medics. The woman again refused.
Three days later our Facebook friend found her on the streets, cold to the touch. Deceased. We did our best to rescue her. It was life & death & merely joining her on the streets & journeying with her would not be enough.
I respect other’s opinions & the younger generation’s opinion, however, they’re not always right. There is nothing wrong with immediate action & rescue when needed. There is a time for journeying & a time for rescue.
Rescue, healing & restoration often requires a certain amount of humility. On our radio show this week, one of our Hope Gardens mom’s discussed her meth addiction & of living in a tent by a freeway with a man she didn’t prefer & during a rainstorm the tent began to slide down the hill. That moment brought her to what she described as a “gift of desperation” that drove her to seek help.
In March we had a successful gala, we featured one of our moms & her 6 kids that were rescued on January 1st. The Gala ran late. Sunday morning I was tired. I needed to rest. However, the next morning I received a call from a mom in a hotel in Pomona, 40 miles away. I began to hear her story, “I am in a hotel with my 18 month old & 3 month old daughters” I jumped in, “can you get to Union Rescue Mission?” I was determined to get rest & needed some rest.“No, our time at the hotel is over, we have to leave, and when we went out to MOVE INTO OUR CAR, it had been repossessed.”
I knew what I had to do. I fired up my truck & hit the road. I found this sweet 23 year former foster youth mom & these sweet babies & loaded them up to go to the mission.
Mom said, “I have my boys in Lancaster, (60 miles away), they are 4 & 3.“” Let’s go”, I said.
We picked them up at what looked like a drug/gang house-Later confirmed by a visit to the mission by the police. Then we drove the hour & 1/2 to Union Rescue Mission. I supervised the boys while mom took a nap.
“Please share my brother. You’re not sharing my brother! Mommy!! Mommy!! Mommy!!”
“Please let your mommy rest”
This was repeated many times.
When we got closer to the mission one of the boys asked me if we were going to mom’s house or my house several times. I finally answered, “we are going to a big house with a playground on the rooftop with lots of other boys and girls to play with.”
I’ve never heard the word mommy more times, nor answered more questions, & I didn’t get any much needed rest.”
Yet, I have never ever had a better day doing this amazing rescue work.
-Andy B