Modesto Gospel Mission

By John Villines, Chief Operations Officer, Modesto Gospel Mission

For the last 73 years, the Modesto Gospel Mission has been dedicated to helping the poor, the disadvantaged, and the homeless in our community. In the tumultuous and chaotic year that was 2020, the Mission was forced to rethink how it provided services in light of COVID-19 best practices, to adjust its methods and programs to meet the needs of the “least of these” in our community.

One example of such an adjustment was to mobilize resources to provide services outside the Mission’s buildings and off campus to those that are isolated, lonely, ignored, abandoned, addicted, or homeless. There are several examples of this development.

“Senior care kits” were delivered to over 350 elderly throughout the city and surrounding towns who were sheltering in place, a Mission ministry that did not exist before COVID-19.

Next, Mission staff and volunteers delivered 1,437 new pairs of shoes directly to local impoverished kids in their homes instead of holding its annual Back to School Block Party event on its campus. Finally, as elementary schools reopened the school year with distance learning, the Mission converted its Youth Center (closed due to the shelter-in-place orders) into a homeschool location where the children that stay with their parents at the Mission could do their school online with assistance from their parent(s) and Youth Center staff as needed.

The Mission worked with city and county school districts to accommodate these kids, and they were able to do school in a quiet and focused setting each weekday.

For the holidays, the Mission’s signature ministry events also had to undergo transformation. For Thanksgiving, the traditional meal and coats giveaway had to remain outside and social distanced, with customary turkey, dressing, potatoes and more in “to go” boxes. The Mission still served 837 of these meals.

The most anticipated time of year for many low-income families is Christmas when the Mission provides toys and gifts each year to over 2,000 men, women, and children. Instead of a one-day event, this year the Mission set up its gifts in one of its warehouses, and invited homeless and needy individuals and families to schedule an “appointment” in the three weeks leading up to Christmas Eve. The Mission was able to almost double those that it served, distributing over 3,800 gifts!

By the end of 2020, the Mission had served over 131,000 meals and was a place of constant refuge and recovery for many in Modesto and surrounding areas.

We have all had to embrace fluidity and flexibility on some level during this pandemic. During this season, God has shown the Mission new ways to mobilize and reach those that are broken in our community. This success was truly dependent on the Mission’s partnership with the generous contributions and donations from businesses and individuals throughout 2020. This is a good example of what a community can do when its citizens care about others and do something about it.