Hello Volunteers and Friends of the Kitsap Rescue Mission,
I do hope this communication finds you well. I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself to those of you I may not have met yet, and to provide you with several updates regarding the plans and activities of the Kitsap Rescue Mission (KRM).
First, I assumed the helm of KRM as the new Executive Director recently on October 12, 2021, and have returned to the Kitsap community, which for 23 years had been my home prior to 2019. From early 2019 to October 2021, I was in South King County helping grow a non-profit business and opening a new ninety-bed emergency shelter program.
In truth, my heart never left Kitsap, and I have been a fan and supporter of KRM for many years because of its mission and commitment to share the love of Christ and serve the community’s most vulnerable community members. I also worked closely with the KRM team in my earlier roles at local organizations.
Our continuous stay shelter is temporarily located at the Quality Inn in Bremerton on Kitsap Way after our move from the Kitsap Pavilion, and we currently have 78 individuals, including 4 families in shelter at this time. On-site services including meals, access to basic need items, case management, housing stability planning and spiritual support services are in place, and we have several community partner agencies coming in to provide other critical services such as mental health and substance use assessment and treatment services, medical care, COVID testing and vaccinations and more.
Yesterday, we successfully finalized the sale of our 6th Street location which was bittersweet. After many years of serving the community from that site, we are at a new and exciting juncture as we continue to grow and expand our services in response to our mission and the needs of the community.
Unfortunately, at our temporary current location, we are not able to utilize the help of Volunteers as actively as we would hope at this time. We anticipate moving to our more permanent home in partnership with Kitsap County to the Mile Hill project in Port Orchard which is slated for late Spring 2022. Here is a link for more information and updates about the project: *link
Also, we are not taking community donations as we do not have the capacity for storage. In the coming weeks, we will be hosting a brand-new website which will provide a link to our Amazon Wish List which outlines any needed items for the shelter. In the future, you can expect at least quarterly communications from me with important updates.
Meanwhile, we wanted to let you know we miss you, we are praying for you, and we are looking forward to the time when we can come back together as a larger community. We are so deeply grateful for YOUR service and for sharing your time, talent, and resources with the mission. Without generous community members such as you we would not be able to do our critical work in the community. Blessings to you!
In Service,
-Robin
