Posted on Oct 26, 2022

For our in-person meeting on October 26, Seth Forwood, the Senior Leader of the Fort Collins Rescue Mission, summarized the history, current status, and near-future goals for the Fort Collins-area Rescue Mission and the associated Harvest Farm.  These two facilities were originally a branch or outreach from the Denver Rescue Mission, Harvest Farm starting some 30 years ago, the Rescue Mission some 10 years ago.  Both are aimed at changing lives in the name of Christ, providing help at the physical and spiritual points of need with the goal of helping their clients return to society as productive, self-sufficient citizens. 

Harvest Farm is designed to address the longer term needs of homeless men.  It is a 100-acre farm north of Wellington that provides a recovery program of six months to a year at no cost to the clients.  With 72 beds along with room and board, it provides a 24/7 focus on the biological, physical, emotional and spiritual facets of life.  During 2021, there were 46 graduates of the program with a 93% success rate for stable housing after graduation.  The graduates have sobriety, have integrated into a healthy community (e.g., church, AA), have stable housing, and stable employment. 
 
The Rescue Mission, located at the intersection of Jefferson and Linden streets on the north side of downtown Fort Collins, took over from the Open Door Mission at the same location in 2012.  In 2020, in partnership with the city of Fort Collins, the Rescue Mission started a seasonal overflow shelter in part of the Food Bank building.  The Mission was converted to men only in 2020 with Catholic Charities providing similar services for families and females.  In 2021, again in partnership with the city of Fort Collins, the Mission started 24/7 operation. 
 
Recently, the operation has returned from the Food Bank to the Rescue Mission.  As the plans for that change were being developed, the nearby restaurants were concerned about the impact of homeless individuals on their clientele and, thus, their business.  Conversations with the owners of the restaurants helped to mollify those concerns, in part by going to a 24/7 operational plan.  The shelter has 106 beds of which 80 are for 24/7 occupancy.  This arrangement gives the clients a place to store stuff and the stability to be able to plan for the future and obtain consistent employment.  It also gets the homeless off the sidewalks so they no longer impact the nearby businesses.  In the last several months, some 60 men have gained stable employment. 
 
In 2021, the Rescue Mission has provided some 49,000 shelter beds and some 72,000 meals.  However, the demand is always greater than the resources – they had to turn away 208 men in September. 
 
The Rescue Mission is currently exploring building a new shelter on land owned by the Bohemian Foundation on the west side of College Ave. in north Fort Collins.  The current plans call for 200 beds, increased and improved kitchen and dining facilities, a day shelter, and increased resources for serving their clients. 
 
Mr. Forwood closed with a summary of the philosophy of the Rescue Mission and brief summaries of a few of their success stories.  He opened this part with the comment that they are always looking for volunteers to assist in their mission.  The Mission is not there to warehouse people but rather to provide basic needs as the first stop on a housing first spectrum.  They want to build networks for housing stability, evolving from shelter to stability to jobs to housing to productive participation in society.  One of his success stories was about a client who progressed from being run over by a car because he was mistaken for a bag of garbage to an individual who felt sufficiently stable in the community that he was offering small financial help to other homeless individuals.  Other examples included a father reunited with his son and two brothers reunited and helping each other.  With shelter during the winter in Fort Collins a life and death issue, they are opening a shelter on north Mason Street from November through April, hoping not to have to turn away any potential clients. 
 
His final comment was that they are saving lives and restoring lives to become productive members of society.
 
Questions: 
What is the five to ten year success rate?  They don’t have any statistics on that but several of their graduates are now members of the staff at the Rescue Mission. 
 
What is their projection for growth or future needs?  In Larimer and Weld counties, the Homeward 2020 projection provides a regional approach to continuity of care.  Looking back, they have capped out around 150 in the past and that may continue for several years.  As Fort Collins grows, homelessness will grow.  Their hope is to keep up and not fall farther behind. 
 
What is the age distribution and what is the balance of incoming vs. outgoing homeless?  There is some fluctuation from winter to summer, but generally consistent in age.  In the mid-2000s, the average age was around 46, commonly alcohol driven.  Now it is around 36, especially younger men who have suffered from the opioid epidemic, commonly starting with injuries in high school and then rapidly descending to heroin. 
 
What health care, mental health, and dental partners do you have?  The actually have more partners at Harvest Farm.  Some of the providers that he mentioned included Summitstone Mental Health, Specialty Counselling, Dental At Your Door, and the Front Range Clinic (providing medicines counteracting addiction).  The Emergency Room is typically the front door to health care for this population but Salud Family Health Center provides some ongoing care.  The Murphy Center actually provides a shell or location for numerous other services. 
 
What about pets?  This is a tough demographic.  Pets are allowed on a contingency basis or for companion animals.  For some of the homeless, their pet is their only real companionship.  The highest need is probably in single men but also for women and families.