Miami Rescue Mission celebrating 100 years helping Magic City's most vulnerable
MIAMI – Miami Rescue Mission CEO Rev. Ronald Brummitt was behind the serving line at the Rescue Mission, greeting servers serving lunch to about 150 clients for the noon meal. Dinner would bring in as many as 300.
In the midst of the lunch crowd, Brummitt leaned into the CBS4 News Camera and proclaimed, "We are celebrating 100 years in 2022!"
Miami, 100 years ago, where visionaries and hustlers were building a city on the banks of the Miami River. It was a boom town. Even then, there were homeless, lost souls. Amongst all this came the Miami Rescue Mission.
In the early years, the Miami Rescue Mission Volunteers drove through the city in a horse-drawn wagon picking up homeless and those in need.
Rescue Mission Development Vice President Marilyn Brummitt told CBS4, "That's what went throughout the city and gave out food and even picked people up to take them to tent meetings where they not only heard the gospel, they were given clothes and food."
In later years, a bus took the place of a horse drawn stage. Inside the tent and later is conventional buildings those in need got an encouraging word from the Bible and a shoulder to lean on. It was not long before the mission's services were needed in a big way.
The Great 1926 Hurricane that killed so many people and the depression came just four years after the Rescue Mission pitched their tent. Through hurricanes, booms, busts, World War II, the Cold War, the Rescue Mission's "mission" grew.
The Rescue Mission, now called "The Caring Place," provides numerous services, including beds, showers, guidance, counseling.
Rev. Ronald Brummitt says, "We are sharing God's love in practical ways."
All services supported as it has for 100 years by donations, public and private grants. In 100 years, the basic reason for being has not changed a bit.
Rev. Ronald Brummitt sums it up, saying, "When we get up in the morning the first thing on our mind is, 'How can we help somebody?'"
The Miami Rescue Mission has a rich history in Miami, but the Mission has been feeding the homeless in Broward County since 1997.