Ministry on 3rd Street & Third Avenue

My Mum (Canadien for "Mom") sent me the following article about the Detroit Rescue Mission. A close relative of her father started that mission in 1909. I thought that it was a fascinating piece of personal history. Here I am, a hundred years later, trying to do ministry in the same spirit like my distant relative (my Mum informed me that David Stucky was her father's father's brother). The story is different, but the calling to serve is similar. It makes me proud to be a Stucky - even though I've not met many of them. I never knew my Grandpa Stucky, he died of a heart-attack when my Mum was in college. I hear lots of stories about him though...my Mum likes to tell stories of our family history. She likes to remind me that William Wallace, the Scottish liberator of the 13th century (fictionalized in the movie Braveheart) is part of our family tree! I'm glad my Mum passed this story on to me. It inspires me - you just can't know what God will do with you or your work a hundred years after you take the first step of obedience. Faith is the ground of action, and why obedience is the sign of love.

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The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, a non-profit corporation, is committed to sharing the gospel of the love of Jesus Christ, providing hope to the hopeless, disadvantaged, abused and homeless men, women and children of our community. In "rebuilding the inner-city, one life at time" by ministering to the total person - body, soul and spirit - we help them become faithful Christians, discipled into a local church, rehabilitated, employed and living productive lives in restored families.
Description:
The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, one of the largest organization of its type in the country, helps over 900 individuals a day. It provides a variety of programs aimed at rebuilding lives "one life at a time". Our programs include emergency shelters, medical detox unit, residential substance abuse treatment programs, transitional housing programs, teen mom's program, Veterans programs, mental health programs, permanent housing and apartments, emergency food programs , prevention programs for children and summer camp opportunites . We also provide educational, tutorial and vocational services.

**History:
The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries was founded by David C. Stucky on February 14, 1909. He moved his family to Detroit from Saginaw with a $1.50 to get medical treatment for his daughter who was stricken with polio. When he arrived here he felt that God wanted him to open a Mission. He rented an old poultry store to house the Mission. Mr. Stucky had to borrow and beg for chairs. He did not have music because he did not have $30.00 to purchase an organ. Following a strong prompting from the Lord, Mr. Stucky went home to find a letter containing a donation of $30.00. With a thankful heart, Mr. Stucky bought an organ for the first service on February 14th. The Mission grew over the years and moved to other sites to continue to help families in need. On January 30, 1963, the Mission moved into its present location at 3535 Third Avenue, in the heart of the Cass Corridor. While operating as a soup kitchen we began to notice that we were continually seeing the same people, we also noticed that many of these individuals were addicted to drugs and that the numbers were increasing. We were thankful to be able to provide services for these indivduals, however ... because we were Christians we wanted to do more to affect a permanent change in their lives. It was then that we began expanding our scope of services so that we could affect a permanent change in the lives of these individuals.

Today we are not only providing services for those who are addicted to drugs, we are also helping families who are homeless because of poor economic conditions and other social ills that plague our communities. We are currently operating out of 11 main facilites providing an array of services and programs to help the lost, the lonely abused men, women and children become rehabilitated, employed and living productive lives in restored families.