City Impact

November 2009 Appeal - David's Story

2009-10-27T17:49:00.000-07:00

“About a year ago I was at the lowest point in my life. I lost my job, a relationship had ended and I lost my residence. I was really in a bad place. I was without hope and just wanted to disconnect from this world. I soon found myself at rock bottom, homeless and living on the streets of San Francisco.”

“The turning point came when I stepped into the doors of City Impact. I originally came for the coffee, food, and a warm safe place to be. I soon found out however, that there was much more. Every day before the meals and at the support group, the Chaplain would talk about how much God loved and cared for me. He would share about how there was a hope and a plan for my life.”

“I soon found myself enrolled in the City Impact transitional housing program. It is in this program that I am uncovering gifts and talents that I never knew I had. I am currently developing my computer skills at City Impact, getting ready for the next step in my life.”

“The one thing that sticks out in my mind is that City Impact just doesn’t just offer a meal here; they go above and beyond by reaching out to those in need.”

“I’m thankful that City Impact was there for me. I now feel reacquainted with God, and have a passion to offer my hand to the next person who may need help. Isn’t that what life is all about?”

Thank God for positive endings! David’s story is like many that come through the doors at City Impact. People facing hard times, cold, hungry,
and in need of hope.

That’s where City Impact steps in. We are there to meet them with open arms, help them with life’s basic necessities, and then help develop a plan to not just give them hand out, but a hand up.

Due to the economy and tough economic times, we are projecting the number of those who come in, like David, to increase this Holiday Season. Whether it be meals, clothing, groceries, or basic health services, we will be there to help them out.

That’s why your partnership is so valuable. We don’t want to turn anyone away this Holiday Season. Your generous donation today will help serve many. A gift of $32 will feed 16 people, a gift of $64 will feed 32 and a gift of $96 will insure that 64 people receive a hot meal.

This is an excellent way to make an impact in the lives of many more like David. It’s true that your gift can help turn around someone’s life.

I hope that you will partner with us to make sure that no one goes hungry this Holiday Season. That’s why I’m asking that you would give your very best gift today.

God Bless,

Pastor Roger Huang
Founder and Executive Director
San Francisco City Impact

A Day In The Life

2009-09-22T12:22:00.000-07:00

Work began for us at 8 a.m. this morning. A typical morning consists of hosing down the sidewalks in front of San Francisco Rescue Mission and San Francisco City Impact, respectively, mixed in with a little preparation and prayer to get ready for our Morning Cafe, Bible Study and Evening Service. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday nights also consist of recovery groups, a prayer and small cell groups, and a youth group.

San Francisco Rescue Mission is also helping serve lunch to the children of San Francisco City Academy while renovation is being completed at San Francisco City Impact's building at 230 Jones Street. All total, we are serving approximately 250 people out of our 140 Turk St. location Monday through Friday.

As we gear up for five outreaches in this fourth quarter, we lean on God more and more to give us that little extra strength we need to help those that are in need. We feel God's presence in the Tenderloin area and realize that we are on the verge of something big. One of those areas where we have witnessed tremendous growth recently has been in the San Francisco Rescue Mission Clinic. We had three nurses attend to fifteen patients this morning. Various complaints included a sore shoulder and problems with their feet. It was great to see the nurses provide immediate care versus having them wait at San Francisco General Hospital for hours on end.

And one of the teachers from San Francisco City Academy took time from his lunch to give a gentleman a free haircut (yes, free).

Rescue Mission VS Teen Challenge

2009-09-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

The San Francisco Rescue Mission just lost an exciting flag football game to teen challenge. It was an exciting game which ended with Teen Challenge beating the Rescue Mission 48-44.

Periodically the Rescue Mission and Teen Challenge come together to challenge each other in various sporting activities. This is an excellent way to foster healthy alternatives for men who have struggled finding ways to stay clean and sober.

Teen challenge has know beaten the Rescue Mission at softball and football this year. The next sport on the agenda: Basketball. The SF Rescue Mission will seek victory over Teen Challenge next month in a classic basketball battle.

2009-02-25T14:25:00.000-08:00

The Rescue Mission had a very special Valentine's Day for the ladies!

Fourteen women attended a day of pampering and fun.

Green House Ministries came and transformed the Rescue Mision

into a mini day spa. They set up stations to give manicures, messages, facials, and a step by step

demonstration on giving yourself a great pedicure!

The women were served fancy treats throughout their time here and given special

gifts and cards. They also each went home with their own spa kits!

It was a wonderful and rare occasion for each woman that attended,

and we are very thankful for Green House Ministries for taking the time to make it

extra special.

2008-12-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a great day!
We ended up having 800 people come out to volunteer with us!

1,ooo turkeys were donated to us just in time! Before Thanksgiving even arrived, we spent 4 days cooking the turkeys non stop in preparation for the big event.

On thanksgiving day we held a huge block party which packed the street with 6oo guests!
After our celebration was over, we passed out hot Thanksgiving meals along with a bag of groceries to each guest.
While the block party was going on, many of our volunteers were working hard making more hot meals to deliver to people who live in the apartment buildings in our community.
By the end of the morning we were able to deliver over 3,000 meals!

At the same time, we also held a Thanksgiving dinner at the Rescue Mission.
A great group of volunteers put together a wonderful turkey dinner for 85 people who would not have had a special meal that day otherwise.
Thank you everyone who came out to help us that day!

Harvest Party 2008

2008-11-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

HARVEST PARTY!

October 31st was our big Harvest Party!

We filled the park with tons of festive decorations and the place looked awesome!
This was a kids-only party, and they were so excited to come in the park once we opened it up!
They went wild in the jump house, ran around playing all the carnival games, and got plenty of candy, hot dogs, popcorn and cotton-candy!
Half way through the night we had a special presentation of a drama that was put on by some of the older kids in our youth group. Through the drama we were able to express how much Jesus loves each one of them!
The evening was a success and everyone had a great time!

A day at Mt. Tam

2008-10-06T19:38:00.000-07:00

The Rescue Mission enjoyed a day away from the city!
Chaplain Earl took a group of people up to Mt. Tamalpais for the day on Saturday.

They spent the day hiking, enjoying a hot dog barbecue, and playing cards.
Everyone had tons of getting out of the busy and noisy city and enjoying some nature.
Here are some pics!

Whirl-wind Summer

2008-08-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

Summer came through like a whirlwind!
Our kids summer program recently ended and now we are currently preparing for the new school year to begin on August 25.

Our summer program was lots of fun, as we learned about different countries each week, highlighted summer Olympic athletes, and went on many incredible field trips!
Here are some pictures of bits and pieces of our fun summer!

Rescue Mission Clinic

2008-07-30T15:21:00.000-07:00

The Rescue Mission welcomes back nurses from Samuel Merritt College!

We have a new group of nursing students who will be spending every Monday and Tuesday with us for the next two months. They are a great group of nurses who will be available to give free general exams in our clinic room to anyone who walks through the Rescue Mission's doors. They will also be going into our community to make in-home visits.

More pictures to come!

Summer is here!

2008-07-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and a lot has been going on at City Impact!
In mid June we celebrated the end of another school year at our Kindergarten and 8th grade graduation ceremony! Even though our building is under construction, everyone did a great job making the sanctuary look incredible for the occasion. The place was packed with family members and friends to celebrate the graduates and the hard work that all the students put into the past school year.

We also recently had our "Spiritual Boot Camp"! Pastor Roger hosted a small group of young adults here in the city. They spent time going to multiple locations throughout the city to pray, and slept a couple nights outside learning what it feels like to be homeless. They ended their time by spending 5 days along the coast in Fort Bragg at the Blessing Home; enjoying fellowship with one another, doing some gardening on the property, and spending time in prayer and worship.

Seattle Pacific

2008-06-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Volunteers from Seattle Pacific University

2008-05-29T15:05:00.000-07:00

In the beginning half of Memorial weekend, we hosted 60 college aged women here at City Impact.
Every year, on the same weekend, City Impact anticipates the arrival of these college students!
They drove here in multiple cars all the way from Washington State, where they are students at Seattle Pacific University.
They spent only 24 hours with us, but they certainly made every moment count! Some of them participated in our on-going construction, while others delivered groceries during home visits to our surrounding neighbors. Actually, they delivered 200 bags of groceries as well as 560 hot meals!
It was wonderful to have them here, and we look forward to their visit next year!

Pictures will be posted soon!!

A crowded night

2008-05-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

As it nears the end of a month, people are out of money and anticipating the arrival of their checks on the 1st; and all of us at the Rescue Mission are anticipating a large number of those people to come in for dinner. On April 28th 110 people attended our evening service/dinner. The month still had a couple of days remaining, so though we were expecting a lot, we were not expecting 110!
Our eyes got bigger and bigger as more and more people came walking in at 4:00.
There were only a few of us running everything that day, but God caused everything to work in an orderly fashion and He kept a calmness in the building.
When the pews were filled, we set up tons of extra folding chairs. Not a single open seat was left.
After everyone crammed in, we had a great time of worship followed by a quick sermon from Pastor Ralph. We had just enough food for everybody who came through our doors to receive a large dinner!

Construction!!!!

2008-04-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

As of March 24, our "building project" has began!
Construction has started! The entire building (from the bottom to the top) will be completely
renovated.

Last Saturday we had an amazing team from CPC church in Danville, come out and help.

They spent the day tearing down walls, and ripping out a small kitchen.

All of this took place in our sanctuary. They were a small group of people, but they got SO MUCH done!! The sanctuary will be so much larger once all the work in that room is completed!

Work in the basement has also been going for a few weeks now.

The basement looks like a completely different place now! They tore a lot of walls apart and are now putting up new ones. These new walls are eventually going to be multiple class-rooms for our school. When this is completed, we will have the space to teach a couple hundred students!

Each Saturday we will have different groups of volunteers coming to help with this project.

This is very exciting and we will keep you posted with lots of pictures and updates!