By Ron Shapella
The large sign on the building at Carroll and Perry streets in Trenton says the Trenton Rescue Mission is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. It also bears the slogan, “Rebuilding Lives, Making Miracles Happen.”
One hundred years — with two World Wars, a Great Depression and Recession, social changes and movements, new technologies, and more — is a long time to have to live up to such an ideal. And it inspires a thought: What was happening in Trenton 100 years ago that made its original benefactors create the Rescue Mission?
“That’s an interesting question,” says longtime Rescue Mission CEO Mary Gay Abbott-Young. “I think it was a movement at the time to find community-based solutions to homelessness.”
It once was a faith-based organization, she says, but now the mission, which reported $4,464,000 in functional expenses in 2014, receives funding from government sources, foundations, and private donations
No matter. One thing is certain, for 100 years the scene at the door to the Rescue Mission’s residential unit has been the same as evening approaches: Large numbers of homeless men and women arriving in the night and seeking shelter.
“Our shelter is busy,” says Barrett Young. Barrett is Mary Gay’s 33-year-old son and chief operating officer at the Rescue Mission. Although he grew up across the river in the Fairless Hills-Oxford Valley area, Barrett has worked at the Rescue Mission for 13 years, and his mother has been there more than 40. The Rescue Mission and serving the down and out are part of the Abbott-Young family. Barrett’s sister is a lawyer who assists people in need of social services. (The father in the family is the anomaly: James Young is a retired Amtrak employee.)
“I was born and raised here,” Barrett says about the mission. “I’ve worn a lot of hats.” He also has a master’s degree in management from Thomas Edison State College, is working toward a master’s in nonprofit management at the University of Pennsylvania, which he expects to receive in May, and lives in the Villa Park section of Trenton with his social worker wife, Leichena, and their five-year-old son, Adam.
“My thing is this,” Barrett says. “A guy comes to our door with a bag, usually a trash bag, and it has all his worldly possessions. Usually, he’s (in police custody and) in shackles. When someone shows up, I’m not concerned about whether they’re an addict or have a criminal history. It comes down to human respect. If you respect someone, you’re gonna get a lot more out of them, and they’re going to get a lot more out of you.
“It’s always been a passion of mine. It’s always been in my heart, to help people. I get the struggle that they’ve gone through. At the end of the day I want to help them understand that there’s a better opportunity for them, better than they’ve known in the past.”
Barrett is eternally optimistic, given the depths of the human condition that he visits one day to the next. “A person comes to the shelter, they will come in, and we will do an intake of them into our system. We ask questions, ‘Are they currently employed?’ ‘When was the last time they were employed?’ When was the last time they had a hot meal?’ Just to give us a picture of who they are. Then our social worker will review the intake and come up with a course of action. What kind of services do they need? Do they need to be referred to an appropriate form of care, job training?”
“Besides focusing on addiction we try to get them to focus on getting a GED,” he says. “We have 60 to 70 tutors who come in,” specializing in math and reading and even public speaking, thanks to members of the Toastmasters from Princeton.
Ninety-five percent of residents at the Rescue Mission have prison records, Barrett says. “Most of our clients are under some sort of criminal justice supervision.” With a maximum limit of 78, long-term residents stay four to six months, he says, and residents of the halfway house stay two to three months.
The Rescue Mission — with 225 shelter beds — takes in 200 people on average most nights. This past winter that number went up over 230 several times. It is a block away from the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, but is not directly affiliated with it, Barrett says. “On Sundays they’re closed, so we have a soup kitchen here. A lot of our clients come from out of the county. People hear that Mercer County has a great social service program. How are you gonna turn someone away?”
In those cases, he says, the mission works with other counties to get people back to where they are from. The Rescue Mission also works closely with the county and other social services organizations. “If a family comes to us we refer them to Homefront (the organization in Lawrence Township that specializes in taking care of homeless families). We work very closely with them.”
“The purpose of the Rescue Mission hasn’t changed that much over the years,” Mary Gay says. “The age range of our population has changed. We still strive to serve those individuals who are down and out with very few resources to steer their lives back to a manageable situation, where they can function, have their own place, have a job, and be self-sufficient individuals.
“We have an intensive outpatient program for substance abusers. We have a job training program so people have job skills when they leave the Rescue Mission. We know that without housing and without employment, their future will be very problematic.”
Part of that job training program takes place in the Rescue Mission store, which makes available a vast amount of items, practically all second-hand. The items, from clothing to furniture and kitchenware to bicycles and gardening tools, are gleaned from donations and from dozens of clothing boxes in Mercer and surrounding counties. The Rescue Mission announces sales during the year at its location on Carroll Avenue in Trenton.
The site is dominated by a hulking brick building. Mary Gay says the Rescue Mission building was once a ceramics factory and then produced the famous Trenton Oyster Crackers, no longer made in Trenton. Barrett says massive ovens, probably used for ceramics, are still in the basement.
The building also will be the site for centennial celebration activities on Friday, April 17. Eric LeGrande, the Rutgers University football player who was paralyzed while making a tackle in an October 16, 2010, game against Army, will speak. Through physical therapy, he has regained mobility in his shoulders and is able to breathe without the need of a respirator. He has become a motivational speaker, an author, and, most recently, a pop singer. “His reputation is wonderful, and we’re honored he’s going to be here,” says Mary Gay.
Miniature golf will also be on the centennial celebration agenda. Miniature golf may not immediately come to mind as part of the Rescue Mission’s reason for existence, but there is an annual tournament in honor of a former board member.
“Adam Shanks,” says Mary Gay, “was a big golfer and a member of the Trenton Country Club for years. The course has been built by our residents and staff. It’s a terrific little course that they’ve improved year after year.” The course now includes replicas of various Trenton landmarks and the Rescue Mission itself.
With a full century of work to contemplate, the temptation for the Rescue Mission and those making it a success might be to dwell too long on what has been accomplished. Barrett doesn’t look at it that way.
“I see us continuing to do the work of helping the homeless,” he says, “helping a guy coming out of prison and trying to rebuild his life, providing treatment, getting people who are homeless off the street so they are not out on the street suffering. I think at the end of the day these are individuals who need help and guidance, but they are still people, and there’s not much difference between a working class person and someone who is homeless. Think about it. If you or I didn’t have a job, how would we pay our bills? Throw on top of that a problem of addiction. “
“You know what I see? I see hope. I don’t look at what their criminal history is telling me, I look at the hope that maybe they can rebuild their life, to understand that there is another opportunity. You can see in a client the transformation they go through. You can see the confidence when they start getting their life back together. The first time a guy gets an ID and he shows it around, ‘Here’s my ID.’ A lot of us take for granted that we have a Social Security card or a driver’s license, but to many of these people it’s a big thing.”
Barrett then talks about other benefits including support and work therapy. “We have different activities, we have people who come in and talk to our clients. The homeless population is a very tight-knit group. They get to know each other and look out for each other. You just see the support that the homeless give each other. ‘So-and-so isn’t feeling good today,’ they’ll tell staff.”
He adds that finding jobs for Rescue Mission residents is major goal. “We’re always working with our clients to find a meaningful work opportunity for them — having a job that provides all the opportunities for them to succeed. A job for them is huge because it gives them an opportunity to provide for themselves and stand on their own,” Barrett says. As one might expect, it is difficult to find jobs for homeless people.
Planning for the 100th anniversary has been going well, and Mary Gay says, “It’s a wonderful way for us to get our message out to everyone about the work that is being done in the community.”
She counts the people who help provide services at the Rescue Mission. There are more than 100 volunteers. The Rescue Mission also works closely with city police and fire departments and Catholic charities. “Without the help of volunteers we would not be able to provide all the great services that we currently do,” she says.
The support and understanding of the public sector is also important, and Barrett speaks appreciatively about a recent visit by Governor Christie, who spoke in terms that matched the slogan on the wall at Carroll and Perry streets — that the Rescue Mission was “where miracles happen.”
Barrett is also a fan of Trenton’s new mayor, Eric E. Jackson. “I have hope for the city now,” Barrett says. “I feel he has the city of Trenton in his heart, him and his team. The mayor has visited the mission a couple of times. He’s a very open guy. He’s a man of the people and he listens to the people.”
After 100 years, Barrett doesn’t see many changes to what the Rescue Mission does. “Changing?” he asked. “I’d say no, but I’m optimistic for the future. Things are going to turn themselves around.”
Centennial Celebration, Rescue Mission of Trenton, 98 Carroll Street, 609-695-1436. www.rescuemissionoftrenton.org. Friday, April 17, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Football star Eric LeGrand speaks at 10:45 a.m. The Adam Shanks Mission Miniature Golf Masters, silent auction, barbecue lunch, and more throughout the day.
