New Rescue Mission and Men In Charge
Camden Courier-Post —
Camden’s Rescue Mission To Be Dedicated Tonight
Dedicated to the reclamation of human driftwood, the Camden Rescue Mission 18 and 20 South 3rd Street, and its industrial building, 306 Taylor Avenue, will be formally opened tonight at exercises to be conducted at Convention Hall.
Informally opened last April, the mission, according to John Helmbold, superintendent, has housed more than 30 men and provided a large quantity of clothes and shoes.
An average of four men a night have been accommodated since the first of the year, Helmbold said, and an average of ten meals a day have been served. Sixty-two gospel meetings had been held up to December 1, and there are attended by a total of 1,358 persons. Charles H. Huber has been the Bible teacher.
More than $4,500 has been spent for alterations on the mission, and an additional $10,000 is contemplated in improvements, according to William W. Morton, president of the board of managers. The establishment, Mr. Morton said, is supported entirely by voluntary contributions.
“At present,” Mr. Morton said, “we have accommodations for 40 men. There are ten double-deck bunks. We are not interested in a man’s creed or color. We don’t care what a man is. All we require is that he make an earnest effort to better himself. We expect him to attend the religious meetings until and after he gets on his feet again. We teach him at these meetings something about God and what it is possible for him to make a better man of himself.
“Each man admitted to the mission is required to bathe at the special showers we have installed, and his clothing and bunks are all from a donor. After he has been taken to his bunk and has had a good night’s sleep, he is given a cup of black coffee and a loaf of bread for breakfast at 7 a.m.
“Each man gets that much free for seven days, during which time he is expected to make an effort to obtain work. If he is successful, we hold him over at the mission until he receives his first pay. Then, if he so wishes, we promote him to the dormitory of the building and give him a locker room at nominal cost.”
The mission was established by Mr. Morton and other public-spirited citizens after J. Arthur Schlichter, field secretary of the International Union of Gospel Missions, visited the city and conferred with him relative to its need here. Schlichter later met with the Camden Ministerial Union and asked about providing a place where an unfortunate might obtain a night’s lodging and food and clothes without cost. No one knew of such a place. Mr. Morton then met with Justin Frome, director of the Camden Bureau of Charities, and Mr. Schlichter sought to find a property that would answer the purposes of a rescue mission.
“We tramped through Camden for a year without success in our search,” Mr. Morton explained. “Then, in the spring of 1927, we discovered the property on Third street. Arrangements were made to take it over. Then we got busy and began to prepare for accommodating the first of the men to come there, with the result that we are now fairly started and are planning greater expansion for the future.”
The committee in charge of the exercises includes Mr. Frome, chairman; Mr. Morton, Mr. Helmbold, Mr. Schlichter and George C. Baker.
The program includes speeches by Tom Noonan, familiarly known as “Bishop Noonan” of New York, Mr. Schlichter and Rev. Charles Boswell, D. D., president of the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association; the Tindley colored quartet, the Kaighn Avenue Methodist Church Band and Thomas Dalus, guitarist. John R. McIntyre, superintendent of the Whosoever Mission, Germantown, Pa., will preside. The mission buildings will be open for public inspection this afternoon from 2 until 5 p. m.