Happy Anniversary!!

This month Cherry Street Mission Ministries turned 60 years old!

We began our ministry on June 14, 1947. Jesse and Bertha Fleck who were, by their own admission in a letter dated June 17, 1951, had lived in relative comfort most of their lives not feeling as though they had done much for God. Having decided to live out the balance of their lives serving God by serving others, they and a handful of friends began to serve food to men on skid row a few nights a week. Their first building was on Cherry Street and before too long they were serving meals every night of the week. By the first anniversary of Cherry Street Mission, they were putting men up in a nearby motel so they wouldn't have to sleep on the streets.

On June 29, 1949 they bought several cots and put them up in the back room behind where they served meals - there wasn't money enough for mattresses, so the men slept on cardboard on top of the springs of the cot.

The rest, as we say, is history. 60 years later, from our humble beginnings on Cherry Street we now serve more than 700 meals a day, shelter on average 180 men and women each night, and serve the community through five different ministry sites.

Today, June 30 2007, we celebrated our anniversary with a community picnic. I'm not sure how many people came out to help us celebrate, but we served hamburgers and hot dogs four hours straight with no gap in the serving line. What a great picnic it was, Tom Clappsaddle from the Toledo Gospel Rescue Mission brought his 'weenie wagon' and cooked up the hot dogs all day long, while dancers from Foundation Stone Christian Center worshipped God in style. Then there was a drummer and dance corp that entertained and excited the crowd and of course a few members of our staff sang and gave testimony to God's greatness.

There were games, face painting, inflatables for the kids, great music and a chance for everyone to connect and have a good time.

I thank God every time I think about the humility of the Flecks and the tremendous risk they took and sacrifice they made just so someone had a place to eat and sleep.

Jesse and Bertha passed on their Heritage and have honored us with the responsibility to live the Legacy of service!

Dan Rogers

Compassion and Rescue

This is our Monroe Street Facility on the corner of Monroe and 17th Street in the Uptown District of Toledo, Ohio. The first and third floors comprise our 165 bed unit for men in both our transitional and program services. The second floor houses our administration offices and conference facilities.

The men who arrive here each day represent a wide range of problems; ex-felons, addicts, mental health, physical health, no families, jobless, no high school diploma and the list goes on. But all of these men share something in common beyond the fact they're all homeless - none of their problems began today.

Ask yourself this question; "How long would it take me to become homeless if I started working on it right now?" Would it take a week, a month .. a year? While the time it takes a homeless person to reach one of the facilities of Cherry Street Mission Ministries, is going to vary from person to person, the reality is you have to imagine how many family and friends you will need to cycle through until there literally is no where else to go.

Think of it this way, how many moms, dads, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas, friends, co-workers and friends of friends told you that you were no longer welcome in their home? That's how long it takes to become homeless - for some it's a matter of months, and for others the reality of homelessness has taken years.

This is what I mean when I say, Cherry Street Mission Ministries is a downstream ministry - we are the receiver of the many who have been floating ever-so steadily down the river of humanity for some time. Can you see that they've all come from another place?? A place way upstream of where they are now.

Compassion for the least, last and lost must begin with rescue! Rescue is defined by going after the upstream of a person's life - and here's the kicker for most would be or wanna be rescuers, you must be willing to put aside the downstream realities of a person's life first. In other words, if a person is an alcoholic you will put that aside to discover what cataclysmic event occurred in his or her life for the purpose of rescue.

More on this in July - stay tuned!

Dan Rogers

The Upstream / Downstream way of looking at things

Nearly 24 months ago, a good friend of Cherry Street Mission Ministries asked me a thought provoking question; "Dan, what is Cherry Street's responsibility to the church?" As odd as it seems now - at the time I had never thought about it.

But my what a personal and organizational quest we've been on since then.

If you've read any of the past posts, you've seen me briefly talk about the upstream and downstream model. Let me explain further. The next time you're near a blank piece of paper, a chalk board or a white board, draw a straight line from left to right ... now step back and look at it for a moment.

Looking at the start of the line on the far left, call that the upstream. The far right, or the end of the line is the downstream. Now, mark an X on the line, just before it ends [to the right] - that's Cherry Street Mission Ministries. We are a downstream ministry, receiving the human condition flowing down the river. We're a receiver ministry.

As you may know God has made us, as His hands to those in need, very good at what we do. For 60 years we have been receiving the stream of people flowing to one of our ministry sites and for 60 years through rescue and restoration, we've been able to return them to their families and communities. This is what we refer to as downstream service.

Now, please look once again at the line you've drawn ... mark an X at the beginning of the line - that's the church. Using the upstream / downstream model, what my friend was asking me nearly two years ago was; "Dan what responsibility does the downstream have to the upstream? As it turns out, quite a bit.

Perhaps the most asked question at Cherry Street Mission Ministries of those on our tours, is; "Can we end poverty and homelessness?" The only way to get your hands around the answer is to use this model of thinking.

Think about this for a moment; Immediate downstream problems can be solved with downstream solutions but systemic downstream problems can only be solved with upstream solutions.

We'll develop this model over the course of the next several posts. If you would like to join in the conversation, you can post your comments or email me your thoughts.

Dan Rogers