From the Board President - About 2008

Dear Friends of the Kokomo Rescue Mission,

We express our thanks to the many people who have supported the Kokomo Rescue Mission with prayers, volunteer service, and financial gifts this past year. We can report that 2008 was a most successful year for the Mission. We grew in every way, in individuals and familes served, in finances, and --we believe this is the most important--in the number of lives reclaimed through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

But we are being challenged as never before. Kokomo has gone in just a few years from a city with the most affordable housing in the nation, to a city which Forbes magazine says is one of the three most economically disintegrating cities in the nation. The economic slowdown puts pressure on every level of our community life. Our Rescue Mission anticipates that we will see more hungry persons and more homeless in the coming year. People will need help who have never needed it before. There is the possibility of increased crime, to say nothing of spiritual despair.

We desire your prayers for discernment as we face the coming days. To be most efficient with our resources we are partnering with groups like Kokomo Urban Outreach and Clinton County Ministry of Hope, and other like-minded groups. We are moving off campus to additional sites to deal with needs where they are.

Until now we have been blessed with support from churches and from the communities in our six-county area so that we have not had to cut back any programs. At the present time it costs more than $5,000 a day to keep the Mission open and to maintain our programs. As the recession deepens we realize that we will be dealing with increasing pressures. We covet your support.                                                                          

For RESCUE,

Rev. Riley B. Case
President, Board of Directors 

Front Row: Bonnie Maple, Curtis C. Welke, Rev. Riley Case, Esther McCauley, Rev. Stephen Beutler
Back Row: Mike Fox, John Bingaman, Shan Sherian, Galen Hodge, Rev. Gary Bush and Janet Yoder.
Not Pictured: Justin Alter, Ralph Grotrian, Dr. Walter J. Ungerer and Jim Thrasher

Officers:
President: Rev. Riley B. Case, Retired Pastor and Author
Vice-President: Esther McCauley, Retired Missionary
Secretary: Mike Fox, Coca Cola Bottling of Kokomo
Treasurer: Rev. Stephen A. Beutler - Pastor, Grace United Methodist Church

Members:
Dr. Walter J. Ungerer, Retired Pastor
Jim Thrasher, HE McGonigal’s Inc.
Curtis C. Welke, McIntyre, Hilligoss, Vent & Welke
Justin Alter, Butcher, Ball, Lowry & Alter
Bonnie Maple, Retired
John Bingaman, Retired
Shan Sheridan, Clinton County Chamber of Commerce
Gary Bush, Cummins/Crosspoint /Pastor
Janet Yoder, Owner - Curves
F. Galen Hodge, Retired
Ralph Grotrian, Retired