New Rescue Mission site gets blessing today in advance of ground-breaking

YOUNGSTOWN

Now that a ground-blessing has taken place, Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley officials are looking forward to a groundbreaking.

Rescue Mission staff and board members, along with city officials and supporters, gathered today at the site of a planned facility to replace the current headquarters on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. The 17.5-acre site was blessed by a prayer, and officials unveiled the design of the 50,000-square-foot building that will be constructed at East Delason Avenue and Erie Street on the city’s South Side.

“A new facility became an essential. It’s a necessity today,” said Rescue Mission Executive Director Jim Echement, explaining how plans for the project began more than a decade ago but were stalled by the economic recession.

In the mid-2000s, Echement said, the mission served an average of 65 people per night. Last year, that number had climbed to 135 people.

“We’re stressing that poor, old 85-year-old building beyond measure,” he said.

Read more about the project in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.