City Mission awards nonprofit
City Mission cook David Foster, foreground, assistant kitchen manager Pat Kline and volunteer Jenna Taylor prepare food at lunchtime Tuesday at the Masonic Temple on Wheeling Street in Washington.
City Mission volunteer Jenna Taylor and assistant kitchen manager Pat Kline work in the kitchen of the Masonic Temple on Wheeling Street in Washington.
Jerry Oxford said a fire that gutted the City Mission’s headquarters 11 months ago was in some ways a “godsend.”
Had the fire not moved its men’s dormitories, it would have had to cut down on the number of men it housed as part of its rehabilitation program – something mission officials didn’t want to do.
“We were already exceeding (capacity),” said Oxford, the shelter’s director of ministry initiatives. “The city had us grandfathered (in on occupancy ordinances).”
The nonprofit recognized the members of the Bible Chapel, a nondenominational church with four locations in the Pittsburgh area, with its Good Samaritan award Tuesday for allowing the shelter to serve meals out of its Washington campus for about two months following the June 9 fire.
“The Bible Chapel … gave us an opportunity to make sure that every man, woman and child was given food,” said mission President and CEO Dean Gartland.
Zeb Thomas, director of the chapel’s Washington campus, said locals “coalesced” around City Mission following the fire. Members of local churches and other volunteers brought in food to help make up for the loss of its industrial kitchen.
“I felt like it was a call to the city to rally around the City Mission and support them in what they do,” Thomas said.
The group used the space at the campus until August. It now serves meals out of the local Masonic Lodge on West Wheeling Street, a social hall boasting its own large kitchen a few doors down from its main building. The mission feeds about 300 people a day from the lodge.
“We’ve been producing and putting out as if there was never a fire,” said Pat Kline, the mission’s assistant kitchen director.
The mission gave the award to the Bible Chapel as the shelter is preparing to move its kitchen and men’s dorms to a new building.
Oxford said investigators labeled the fire an accident but never determined the cause.
Since the fire, contractors have connected the old church building that previously housed its men’s dorms and kitchen, with another building owned by the mission that was formerly used to store and process donated clothing and furniture.
The new digs include a brand-new kitchen and dining room that can seat up to about 200 people.
Since the fire, the mission leased trailers nearby to house the men, which number about 56. The new, 96-bed men’s housing wing will allow the shelter to increase the number of residents in the rehab program.
Mission officials gave Bible Chapel and other community members a tour of the new building, which officials hope will be ready in June.
Repairing the old church building, where the kitchen fire started, is expected to take until December.
Gartland said repairs and renovations at the two buildings will cost about $3.4 million in total. The group received grants and corporate donations to help with those costs.
The mission has continued using the Avis Arbor Women’s and Children’s Shelter, which is in a separate building, since the fire. Gartland said about 40 women and children are living in the shelter.
Mission cook David Foster said he “can’t wait” to start using the shelter’s new kitchen.
“Everything’s going to be brand-new,” he said.