‘God’s not done’: What’s next for Garden City Rescue Mission?
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - The Garden City Rescue Mission hit its goal to buy their one-acre property and stay in the location they’ve been at for more than two decades.
The overall goal is to expand their services and increase how many people they serve. Currently, they house 60 men a night, and the goal is to almost double that number.
“God’s not done with the ministry,” said Executive Director Patrick Feistel. “We get to not only work on closing on this property and own it, but we’ve got visions and dreams that we believe God’s putting our heart.”
Those visions and dreams didn’t seem possible a month ago.
Four days before their Sept. 15 deadline, the rescue mission still needed more than $100,000 to raise $495,000 in total. Now, they are sitting at roughly $680,000 from community donations.
“We’re gonna get to tear down possibly that old soup kitchen and see a chapel over there in the future,” said Feistel. “That little chapel can be emptied out and that means more space can be used for men here at the Garden City Rescue Mission.”
The goal is to continue to change even more lives.
Gary Davis, who stays at the rescue, said: “We get back out in the real world and don’t look back. We the thoughts, the things that they teach us, take scribe with it, and just go forward from that point.”
Mitchell Morris, who also stays at the rescue, said: “I don’t care if we talk for 1,000 years, I couldn’t express what it’s done for me. I know who I am. I know who I used to be. And I know where I was going before I came here.”
The goal is to close on the property within the next couple of weeks. From there, it’s to the drawing board to map out all the visions and goals for the rescue mission’s plan to expand services across the city and the CSRA.
Feistel said: “It’s really neat how God uses a storm like this to put you right where you’re supposed to be.”
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