Sharing God's Love with Our Guests

• Easter Joy

• Summer Fun

• Back to School Bash

• Thanksgiving Traditions

• Christmas Compassion

 



Easter Joy

At City Rescue Mission, our guests experience—many for the first time—the reality of Christ’s resurrection and His gift of salvation.  For our family, Easter is a joyful celebration of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

Residents and guests from the low-income community enjoy a delicious brunch in our dining room and hear the message of new life through Jesus Christ at a special chapel service.  Each adult receives a personal hygiene basket complete with personal care items, a large print bible and candy. For a complete list, check out our Bunnies, Baskets and Bonnets drive.

For homeless and impoverished children, our Easter festivities include games, face painting, egg decorating, an Easter egg hunt and a visit with the Easter bunny. Thanks to the kindness and generosity of our donors, every child is treated to a brand new Easter outfit and an Easter basket filled with candy.

Would you like to be part of our Easter celebration? Click for information about our Bunnies, Baskets and Bonnets drive or call Sabrina Fox, volunteer manager, at (405) 232-2709, ext. 121 for details.

• 2007 Easter Eggstravaganza Highlights



Summer Fun

We’re splashin’ into summer fun at City Rescue Mission!  These Kids’ Connection, Too activities are designed to help homeless kids BE kids again.  AND learn about the love of Jesus, how to build healthy relationships and behavioral skills at the same time.  Here’s just a samplin’ of what we’ve got planned!

Kids—and their moms and dads, too!—will enjoy trips to White Water Bay, The Zoo-Oklahoma City, movies and area parks.

When they are not having a blast around OKC, they’ll be here at the Mission participating in arts, crafts, life-skills classes and tutoring.

With the help of community partners, our kids will have the opportunity to attend several summer camps: equine camp, basketball/cheer camp, vacation Bible school, drama camp and so much more.  Thirty children will also experience a week at Camp Shiloh!




Back to School Bash

The first day of school is an important day for kids—especially homeless kids staying at City Rescue Mission.  They’ve moved from place to place, school to school, and finally they’ve got a bit of stability in their lives.  This is their opportunity to be like other kids, to fit in, to learn and grow … this is their chance to shine!

We want to send our kids back to school in style.  We want to provide them the tools they need to be successful.

We start by getting our kids and their families geared up for school at our Back-to-School Bash at Incredible Pizza.  Here they feast on delicious pizza and play arcade games, ride go-karts, bowl and much more.

Then we distribute backpacks filled with rulers, colored pencils, pocket folders, school glue, markers, pencil boxes and other supplies.  Children will also receive a new outfit, tennis shoes, socks, underwear, coats and other clothing essentials.

Here are some fun, simple ways you can get involved in the Back-to-School Bash:

  • Help your child pick out a new outfit for a homeless child in his or her own size.
  • Challenge your Sunday school classes to hold Undie Sunday, a collection of kids' new underwear and socks.
  • Provide a homeless child with a $25 gift card for a new school outfit.
  • Give a gift card or cash to City Rescue Mission so we can purchase underwear, socks, clothing and coats for school children at our shelter.  Donate online today.
  • “Adopt” a school-age child in our shelter and supply him or her with new clothing and school supplies.
  • Fill a backpack with a new outfit, packages of underwear and socks, and a card of encouragement for a child’s first day at school.

For more information on ways to help, contact Sabrina Fox, at (405) 232-2709, ext. 121 for details.  Or e-mail sfox@cityrescue.org.

















Easter 2007 Photo Album

Thanksgiving Traditions


Thanks for Giving Food Box Distribution

With your help, City Rescue Mission supplies around 500 families with food boxes containing a complete Thanksgiving meal: turkey, stuffing, gravy and all the fixin’s! 

Without our help, Thanksgiving would be a day like any other for many of these families—a day spent struggling to meet their daily needs.

Can you help us fill our Thanksgiving boxes with food and hope?  Simply bring your donations of the items listed below to 800 W. California Avenue, October 1-November 16; call ahead if you’d like a tour when you drop off your donation!

Family-size cans and boxes, please

  • 10-15 lb. turkeys
  • Stuffing mix (not croutons)
  • Packaged gravy
  • Canned cranberry sauce
  • Canned green beans
  • Canned sweet potatoes
  • Cake mix and frosting
  • Sugar
  • Bisquick® or Jiffy Mix®
  • Tea and coffee

We need volunteers, too.  Contact Sabrina Fox, (405) 232-2709, ext. 121 or sfox@cityrescue.org about these and other volunteer opportunities.

  • Coordinate a food drive at your church, school, and workplace or with your family or neighborhood.
  • Help sort donated foods and assemble food boxes.
  • Assist in the distribution.

For more information about our holiday volunteer ministry, click here.

 

Great Thanksgiving Banquet

Thanksgiving Day … the aroma of roasting turkey, bread and pie hangs in the air … relatives gather around your table, celebrating your family’s love and prosperity. 

For the homeless, Thanksgiving is like any other day of the year: they are cold, hungry and tired.  Just like they were the day before. That’s why, at City Rescue Mission, your gifts assure that homeless men, women and children experience a traditional Thanksgiving feast and fellowship.  In the warmth and safety of the Mission, we surround them with love and compassion.

More than 800 hungry and homeless men, women and children will join us for worship service and our Great Thanksgiving Banquet.  City Rescue Mission is one of 300 members of the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (www.agrm.org) providing Thanksgiving meals for more than 500,000 needy throughout America.

Please partner with us in this effort; bring donations of the items below no later than the Friday before Thanksgiving.  Call ahead to arrange a tour when you bring your gift.

Commercial- or restaurant-size cans and boxes when available, please

  • 10-15 lb. turkeys
  • 6-10 lb. precooked hams
  • Pumpkin pie filling
  • Pie crusts
  • Whipped topping
  • Eggs
  • Evaporated milk
  • Canned cranberry sauce
  • Sugar
  • Brown ‘n’ serve rolls
  • Stuffing mix (not croutons)
  • Instant mashed potatoes
  • Packaged gravy
  • Tea and coffee
  • Butter and margarine

We’ll need 50 volunteers to help before, during and after the Great Thanksgiving Banquet.  Contact Sabrina Fox, volunteer manager, at (405) 232-2709, ext. 121 or sfox@cityrescue.org for opportunities to serve:

  • Join Serving through the Season and help serve lunch and dinner, throughout November and December.
  • Help prepare food and set up
  • Help serve food and clean up

For more information about our holiday volunteer ministry, click here.

• 2007 Thanksgiving Highlights


Thanksgiving 2007 Photo Album

Christmas Compassion

Every year at City Rescue Mission, we invite the homeless and destitute to celebrate Christmas with us.

We serve steaming plates of ham, mashed potatoes, green beans and homemade pie to more than 800 men, women and children.  We sing carols and listen as our worship speaker proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ’s birth: He came to save, not to condemn; He came to serve, not to be served.

Then we hand out hundreds of presents to those who would otherwise get nothing.  The gifts are simple—a warm blanket for a homeless man.  A thick scarf for a homeless mother.  But for those who receive the gifts, they are a reminder that they are loved and cared for by friends in this community and their Father in heaven.

During the gift giveaway, kids have the opportunity to visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus—a longtime Mission tradition.

We need you to enable us to offer this wonderful Christmas celebration for the hungry and homeless.

Extend Your Hands to Help

Here are ways you can serve the Lord through City Rescue Mission.


Holiday Volunteer Needs

Call Volunteer Manager Sabrina Fox at (405) 232-2709, ext. 121 or e-mail sfox@cityrescue.org for details.  For information about other volunteer opportunities at City Rescue Mission, click here.

  • Serve the homeless during the Deck the Halls Banquet, December 21.
  • Sort, wrap and pack donated Christmas gifts throughout December.
  • Join Serving through the Season and help serve lunch and dinner, throughout November and December.
  • Provide office and administrative help.
  • Help inventory and organize our warehouse.

Purchase items listed below and drop them off at 800 W. California Avenue before December 14.  Call ahead to schedule a tour, too!

Gifts We Need Most

New gifts only, please

  • $25 gift cards to stores like Wal-mart and Target
  • Gloves, scarves, hats
  • Backpacks, duffle bags
  • Combs, brushes, picks, hair accessories
  • NLT Bibles, devotional books and journals
  • Slippers, bath robes
  • Throw blankets
  • Fast food gift certificates
  • Teen Bibles, books and journals
  • Portable AM/FM radios, Christian CDs, AA batteries
  • Wallets, key rings, purses
  • Alarm clocks, radios, wristwatches
  • Blow driers
  • Manicure/pedicure sets
  • Makeup, bath and body sets
  • Electric shavers
  • Crossword, word search, sudoku books
  • Playing cards, travel games
  • Hand-held games and batteries
  • Stress balls, yo-yos, coordination games

Holiday Banquets and Pantry Needs

Commercial sizes, please

  • 10-15 lb. turkeys
  • 6-10 lb. precooked hams
  • Commercially prepared chocolate cream and pecan pies
  • Whipped topping
  • Eggs, sugar
  • Whole milk
  • Cranberry sauce
  • Rolls
  • Stuffing mixes and gravy
  • Margarine or butter
  • Instant mashed potatoes
  • Fresh baby carrots
  • Tea and coffee

• 2007 Christmas Highlights


Christmas 2007 Photo Album

City Rescue Mission • 800 W. California Ave. • Oklahoma City, OK 73106 •  (405) 232-2709