2800 N. Hillside St. • Wichita, KS 67219-4702 • (316) 687-4673 • www.URMWichita.org

Don’t miss… A Message from Denny Bender

“ Brother, can you spare a dime?”

65 Years of Help2 2 3

A horrifi c story –

If stories of children being horribly abused and neglected disturb you, please read no further.

M ichael ran away from home when he was 10. This wasn’t just running

away with friends for the day. Michael was fl eeing from being beaten and molested, tied up and going for days without eating!

He lived on the streets for fi ve years. When he was 17, he met his wife, Meredith, and they started a family, which would grow to six lovely daughters.

with a happy ending.

Michael continued on page 3 >>>

URM ODAYN E W S L E T T E R F R O M U N I O N R E S C U E M I S S I O N

F a l l 2 0 1 5 Chang ing t he Fu tu r e o f t he Home l e s s . . .One L i f e a t a T ime

You’re too young to remember this song that became the anthem of the great depression in the early 1930’s.

Back then, 10¢ would buy a box of cereal, two loaves of bread, a pound of hamburger or two cups of coffee!

Today, a cup of coffee can set you back $2 or more.

But here at the Union Rescue Mission, you can still provide a hungry person with a complete home-cooked meal for just $2.15!

$21.50 will feed 10 people. For

$51.60 you can provide food and care for 24!

Providing a meal is not our only goal. Every donation you make helps provide food, shelter, education, job training, food boxes and access to all the other services that can put an individual – or an entire family – back on their feet!

So please, make a gift today. Use the enclosed envelope, or give online at www.URMWichita.org. Thank you!

This November, we’ll celebrate our 65th year of providing hope for homeless men, and help to women and children in Wichita. There will be a big banquet in November.

But right now it’s only September, and we’re getting ready for the holidays.

We’ll need more than 100 turkeys for our Annual Thanksgiving Dinner and more than 220 Thanksgiving food boxes we’ll help distribute. In the days and weeks before Thanksgiving, we’ll need hundreds of volunteers.

And, we need prayers.Prayers that the food

we need will be provided. Prayers that we’ll have enough room for all the new folks coming our way.

Most of all, prayers that those who join us for a meal or shelter will stay on and enter the programs that can get them into a right relationship with the Lord and back on their feet!

Please also pray for our staff and for this ministry as we begin another 65 years

of providing a way for those in our community who need His help to fi nd better lives.

Dennis H. Bender, APRExecutive DirectorDennis H. Bender, APR

2

You’re invited to join us Thursday, Nov. 5 at Beech

Activity Center as we celebrate 65 years of service to Wichita’s homeless citizens.

There will be a wonderful dinner, an inspiring dinner, an inspiring presentation by Jonathan Evans and stories from our New Beginnings graduates who will share their life-changing experiences.

For For more information, or to more information, or to make a reservation, call Julie at (316) 687-4673, ext. 116.

You are invited...65th Anniversary

Eat. Love. Pray.

A Personal Word from Denny

provide food and

a meal is not our only goal. Every donation . Every donation

“Brother, can you spare a dime?”

3

But because of his horrifi c past, Michael was very protective of the girls...over protective. “My wife wasn’t allowed to feed or change my children, or even to hold them. I was that protective. I wasn’t going to let anything happen to them.”

Michael’s obsessive behavior eventually led to a divorce.

“Drinking cost me everything.”For 27 years, Michael worked for

Koch Industries. But when his wife left, he began drinking – heavily. He knew something had to change the day he woke up on life support at Wesley Medical Center!

One of the women there told him about the Mission and our program, but Michael said he “wasn’t a believer.” “I hated God. I didn’t want anything to do with Him!” But the woman persisted and eventually Michael agreed to enter our New Beginnings program.

“Led to the Lord.”“It was wonderful,” Michael says

of his experience fi nding God at the Mission. “It was a sensation I’d never felt in my life...something that was growing inside of me.”

Michael graduated and did well for about a year and a half. But then the backsliding began. “I quit going to church. Quit reading my Bible and talking to my sponsor and my family. I just shut down and isolated myself.”

Michael would return to the Mission and leave one more time before he fi nally admitted that he needed to “make some changes.”

“You have to be honest. You have to not be afraid and let go.”

Today, Michael fi nally sees where God used the trials in his life to make him stronger. “There’s no more shame. I want to get to the point where I can talk to others who are going through what I did. I thought I was the only one...but I’m not.”

Michael has reunited with three of his daughters and is working to reestablish relationships with the other three. “The Mission has taught me what honesty and trust is,” he says. They taught me fellowship and what love is. Not being afraid to reach out. But most importantly, just to be yourself.”

You are invited...

New shoes feel great. Especially when you’re

homeless and spend your days walking the streets of Wichita.Soles4Souls partners with the Mission to provide 200 new pairs of shoes for the homeless men who we shelter here at the Mission each evening and for those in our New Beginnings life-change program.

Thanks to their relationship with several of the world’s leading apparel companies, this non-profi t organization distributes new but non-marketable shoes (overstocks, returns and discontinued lines) to organizations like the Mission.

In addition to great new shoes, foot care will be provided for our men by a local orthopedic surgeon.

Our thanks to all who take part in this great program!

Michael continued >>>

� 24,300 meals� 12,600 nights of shelternights of shelter

Our guests may not know your face, but they give thanks for your care and support each and every day!

2015 Annual Thanksgiving Campaign

Union Rescue Mission2800 N. Hillside St.Wichita, KS 67219-4702

Donate online at www.URMWichita.org, or call (316) 687-4673.

❍ Check enclosed ❍ Bill my credit card

❍ ❍ ❍ ❍

FAL15

CREDIT CARD #

EXP. DATE PHONE #

NAME

ADDRESS

CITY / STATE/ ZIP

E-MAIL

_________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

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In the late 1940’s, a woman known only as Miss Ledoux, working with

merchants on East Douglas in Wichita, saw a great need for help for the city’s homeless people. She approached the

Christian Business Men’s Committee in the summer of 1950, and the members, feeling a burden for the destitute men living on Wichita streets, agreed to establish a shelter.establish a shelter.establish a shelter

From modest beginnings and through a lot of hard work, the Gospel Service Center opened on Sept. 6, 1950 at 603 East Douglas in downtown Wichita. Martin Moody, one of the founders, observed what was apparent to so many of the supporters that fi rst night. “We all knew that God had raised up this Mission. There wasn’t (even) standing room.”

During its early years,

the Mission aired a daily radio program and conducted Bible studies, offering just nine beds for homeless men. In 1954, the Mission moved to 130-132 North St. Francis, where it would remain for 50 years. Ten years later, a medical and dental clinic was opened at the Mission, and the following year a thrift store was added, which enabled the Mission to give out free clothing to needy people.

Over the next 30 years, the Mission struggled fi nancially, but continued its ministry of caring for those who were homeless and leading them to Christ.

Next: New Life for Homeless Men

November 14-22, the Mission is taking part

in National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week – a nationwide effort to Week – a nationwide effort to Weekmake more people aware of the problems of hunger and homelessness across America and right here in Wichita.

Join your friends and neighbors by skipping a meal or your morning cup of coffee and donating the money you would have spent to provide food and care for people here at the Mission.

This is also a great chance to bring together your family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, or your church, school or civic group to:� Serve a meal here at the

Mission� Organize a drive: Canned

food, clothing (especially warm coats and jackets), socks & underwear, hygieneitems, sheets & blankets

� Skip a meal and donate the money to the MissionFor more information,

contact Tracy at (316) 687-4673, ext. 114 or e-mail volunteer@urmwichita.org.

Give it up for hunger 65 Years of Help for

Homeless, Hurting People

Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow

❍ $21.50 to feed and care for 10 people❍ $51.60 to feed and care for 24 people ❍ $75.25 to feed and care for 35 people❍ $_________ to help as much as possible❍ I’m enclosing a special gift of $65 to celebrate the Mission’s anniversary

Here’s my 2015 Annual Thanksgiving Campaign gift: