Dear Friends,

Be sure to read Terrance’s story. His life story is not unique among the 500 men in residence at HUM. As you read it, imagine how as a HUM supporter, you are helping to save and transform someone’s life, every day of the week.

We keep using the phrase “saving and transforming lives” over and over, at the risk of it becoming old. But when you see the human face, and hear first-hand the story of one who was near death, and is now full of life, the phrase “saving and transforming lives” becomes fresh with meaning again. It seems to be the best way to describe the miracle.

Terrance was feeling so much emotional pain that he tried to take his own life. Today he feels fortunate and incredibly blessed to be alive and believes his life has been transformed in a way that he can sustain.

This life transformational change happens every day for hundreds of men dealing with many years of addiction, poverty, and homelessness at HUM, an organization you choose to support. I thank you for your support.

It’s a very simple deduction that, without your support, there would not be a long-term residential Spiritual Recovery Program for 500 men. Without such a program there would be little or no hope for the men we are now serving. Lives that are being saved would be lost.

Your March gifts are needed to provide a transformational Christian culture of faith, hope and love. When men are in such a culture long enough, the presence of Jesus has a spiritual effect that saves men like Terrance. Please give as generously as possible. We are expecting approximately 60 new men, who will enter the program during March. Your gifts will immediately go to work saving and transforming their lives!

Sincerely,

Robert K. Gehman Executive Director

Dear Friends,

This Christmas and Holiday Season is a time when your financial gifts take on a special meaning for the men here at Helping Up Mission (HUM). You are making HUM feel like “home for Christmas” for 500 men who need yet another chance at turning their lives around after years of addiction, homelessness and jail.

“Feeling at home,” means living in the HUM ambiance of 15 Christmas trees and hundreds of decorations, listening to Christmas music, enjoying turkey dinners with all the fixings, and loving the conversations with supportive family and friends. All this is happening amidst the grateful awareness of having the opportunity to experience sobriety, living off the streets, and out of jail. It’s an opportunity to learn to live on the narrow path that leads to being reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy in the life to come.

Your gifts during this season of giving are needed to provide an opportunity for men like Bryan Modecki. Read Bryan’s story (page one) and hear of all the good gifts that came to him after he was able to remain steady in his commitment to spiritual recovery. There are so many compassionate people like you who are willing to help others in their effort to change their lives.

Is that not what Christmas is all about…changing lives? Jesus came to save us all from our sins, and he never gives up on the work of saving and helping. Thank God and thank you for giving the HUM men another chance at getting life right and making their future bright!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season to you and the entire HUM family!

Sincerely,

Robert K. Gehman Executive Director

Dear Friends,

For over 20 years, I’ve observed the struggles of the men in our programs. It seems clear to me that when life isn’t working our souls find ways to compensate. Often times, the compensation measures become destructive addictions that seem to work on the short term but in the end bring us an even greater feeling of lifelessness.

Many people reach out for chemicals to medicate the pain of their mental and spiritual anguish.

Unfortunately, life turns into a relationship with chemicals. Over time the relationship becomes all consuming. There is no longer time for anything but chasing after drugs.

The rewards of such a pursuit are poverty, homelessness, crime, jail, physical and mental illness, loss of all meaningful relationships, and ending in total despair.

But thanks to you, and our huge HUM family, we can offer hope through programs that address the individual’s physical, psychological, spiritual and social needs.

Addressing the needs of the whole person (body, mind and spirit) brings new life to men like Tyrone in our feature story.

Thank you for your gifts of prayer, finances, talent and time. Without your regular monthly help, 500 men presently in our programs would be left to wallow in despair. Thanks to you, the men who show up here at HUM every day are given the opportunity to have a reasonably happy fulfilling life without drugs.

Sincerely,
Bob Gehman

Dear Friends,

Loving your neighbor as yourself is as important as loving God with all your heart, mind and soul. That is what the Bible teaches and that is what we strive to do here at HUM.

One of the places we do that is in our Overnight Guest Services (OGS). Interns in our Spiritual Recovery Program (SRP) care for and love 60 men in our OGS program who are struggling with homelessness. You would be amazed if you could see the level of Christian care your gifts are providing!

I asked the caregivers why our overnight guests choose HUM as a place to spend the night. They said, “We get to really know them, and they feel part of a family”. They also feel safe, they are not around people who get “high” and their possessions don’t get stolen.

When the guests are safe, comfortable, appreciated, and given the time to think and pray, they have opportunity to grow into a new life.

While with us, they consider what they need to do with their lives. Some enter our SRP (see this month’s story). Others find housing, jobs and the necessary encouragement to get out of an old rut and move on.

Your gifts help provide hope for men struggling with homelessness, addiction and mental illness. Thank you so much!

Peace and prayers,
Bob Gehman

Dear Friends,

The hope of Spring is alive at Helping Up Mission (HUM)! And you help keep hope alive through the monthly support you give to the 500 men in HUM’s programs. They are not only recovering their lives from destructive addiction, but are discovering a new, reasonably happy life, without drugs.

Ryan Cashman reveals in his story what I think is one of the major challenges for many of the men here at HUM. There are many temptations to leave the Spiritual Recovery Program prematurely. When they yield to that temptation, their chances for real life change greatly diminishes.

With your help, I believe we can keep our men at HUM longer. As we grow in financial strength, we will be able to provide more individual pastoral and spiritual help.

The average length of stay for all the men who enter HUM’s Spiritual Recovery Program is 135 days. Imagine if we can increase that average length of stay to 6 months (180 days)! The spiritual roots of the men will be stronger and the storms of life will not be able to uproot them. Their lives can continue to flourish long after they leave the Mission.

Please send a gift this month. You will keep hope alive for 500 men and their families. Thank you for helping us grow in financial strength so we can provide more men with the spiritual care they need to stay in the program longer and succeed. May your generosity be blessed according to God’s riches!

Sincerely,
Robert K. Gehman
Executive Director

Dear Friends,

It’s the cold time of the year and here at HUM, we are packed with people needing help.  Our overnight guests are permitted to stay at HUM during the day rather than go out into the cold.  Providing that extra service is the human and Christian thing to do.  But, we do need your help to provide the extra cold weather care needed for the 500 men who are part of our programs here at HUM.

I have been at HUM now for 20 years and I never would have dreamed we would be caring for so many men every day.  But, here we are doing it!   We are able to do it because every year more people help with contributions and we are able to reach further and help more people.  What an opportunity we all have to make a difference for hurting souls but, it’s up to us to seize it every month.

Your cold weather support gifts will provide the warm lodging, hot meals, clothes and a well rounded Spiritual Recovery program. The program meets the individual needs of 500 men going through a life crisis. They cannot make it without our help. But, our helping up work allows them to have a new life with a promising future.

Thank you for the special cold weather consideration as you decide what you can do this month to help.

-Bob Gehman

Dear Friends,

Because of your help we are saving the lives of broken men and building a better Baltimore.

Read about Matt and you’ll understand what I mean. There are 500 Matt’s at HUM getting the help they need to turn their lives around and live reasonably happy lives without drugs.

Matt is a beautiful human being. What would have happened if when he was wandering hopelessly through the streets of the City we would not have been there to help?

The City is the super market where addicts shop for their drugs. Many addicts from the suburbs end up staying in the City due to hospital or jail visits.

But thanks to all of our donors and volunteers we are here to receive all who are ready for help and we will give 500 men the help they need to transform their lives.

Sincerely, Bob

PS. We need you financial help this month. It costs $1,000 per month per person. Your gift of whatever size really helps!

Dear Friends,

This is the last month of the 2012-2013 fiscal year and we need your financial help to finish strong. When we finish strong, it means we have met our annual campaign goals needed to support 500 hundred homeless men, like Rasheed’s success story. Our combined giving provides them with all the help they need to change their lives.

But, the results of giving go beyond helping the homeless. The giver is always impacted more than the receiver. “It is more blessed to give than to receive”. It is true that when we love others, Gods love flows through us and we are changed as well.

So, I’m asking you to give a generous donation to help the homeless men here at HUM. If you do, I know you will be blessed with true riches in your inner being.

Thank you for your  part in transforming the lives of broken men and building a better Baltimore!

Sincerely,
Bob Gehman
Executive Director