Rescue Mission Unable to Open as Drive Lags

The San Diego Rescue Mission has no hope of opening its new facility by Nov. 1, despite $233,000 in donations received since mounting debts forced the mission to close two weeks ago.

Director Jim Flohr said the mission received only $38,000 in donations the second week after it closed its doors, compared to the $195,000 that poured in the first week after closure. He doesn’t expect that the new mission, under construction on J Street, will open its doors before Thanksgiving.

On Oct. 7, the 5th Avenue mission closed its doors to the needy for the first time in 30 years because of debts of $1.45 million on which payment was due.

Flohr said the mission could reopen with $400,000 and could raise the rest of the money while it is in operation, but so far it has received only $233,000. Among its debts are $700,000 to the Bank of San Diego and $300,000 to private citizens, many of them on the mission’s board of directors.

The gap created when the mission stopped offering its usual 500 to 700 meals each day to street people is being filled by several church organizations and the St. Vincent de Paul Center. Spokesmen for the several organizations said they expect to be able to handle the increased burden until the new mission opens.

When completed, the new mission will be able to feed 1,000 people a day, compared to the previous facility’s 500 to 700, and will house 250.

Several of the downtown business organizations that offered to help the mission have sent the funds they raised directly to the mission, so no record of how much each raised is available.

According to Donna Alm, spokeswoman for the Gaslamp Quarter Council, the organization began sending out letters Friday asking donors to first send the money to the council so it could keep a record. Alm said that her agency also is investigating several major contributions from businesses and individuals, and that prospects are good. She said she would know the results of those efforts next week. The Gaslamp Quarter Council is working with the Central City Assn. and the Centre City Development Corp., among others, to raise the needed funds.

“Quite frankly, I think the fund-raising is going fantasticly,” Alm said, citing the $233,000 raised in two weeks.

“I think San Diegans are very generous when there is an emergency,” she said. She said less money was donated the second week because people are not yet aware of just how large the need really is.

She said businessmen gave two reasons for helping the mission--a moral obligation to help the less fortunate, and an investment in downtown revitalization.