Hometown Horizons Banquet Update

June, 5, 2009

A big thanks to all who helped make our Hometown Horizons banquet a success. We had a wonderful night, and were so blessed to get an opportunity to really show our community what is happening at ODBM, and the lives that are being radically transformed. (wherever you put it) is a link to the video testimonies of just some who have experienced a total transformation in their lives by surrendering their lives to Christ, with the help of people and programs in ODBM.

Our goal for the banquet was to raise $125,000.00 to purchase the building that we operate in at 1135 Harrold St. in an effort to become an emergency shelter. We raise a little over $10,000, praise God, but we still are $115,000 short of our goal. We believe the Lord will continue to touch people (maybe you) to give to see that goal reached. We would hate to see anyone else in Crescent City have to die from exposure to the elements because there is no refuge in extreme temperature. See what the Lord would have YOU to do!!

Homeless shelter to stay open

Published: December 24, 2008

Written by Kurt Madar

The Triplicate

Gift extends time through January

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in Crescent City this holiday.

The temporary homeless shelter at the Del Norte County Fairgrounds, originally scheduled to close Dec. 31, will stay open through the end of January.

“We are really happy,” said Our Daily Bread Ministries Director Mike Justice. “Our prayers were answered.”

The organization opened the shelter in early December when cold weather killed one woman and made it hard for people who sleep outside. Sutter Coast Hospital employees have donated $2,500 to keep the shelter open through Jan. 31.

Rent for the month of January cost $2,000, Justice said.

“We used the rest to buy $500 of tents, sleeping bags and rain gear that we will be distributing through the month,” he said. One change is that the shelter will have to move, from Jan. 2 to the 14, to the fairground’s main building due to a prior booking of the arts and crafts center.

“We will have our signs out in front of where the shelter is,” Justice said.

In from the cold

Published December 17, 2008

Written by Kurt Madar

The Triplicate

25 people use shelter on 1st night

As Crescent City woke to frozen puddles and frost-covered grass, 25 people who otherwise would have slept outside Monday night got up from cots in a warm room to a pancake breakfast.

With a series of winter storms bringing cold air extreme enough to kill a local woman, Our Daily Bread Ministries took money earmarked for its annual Christmas party and rented the arts and crafts building at Del Norte County Fairgrounds for the rest of December for $1,000.

“We had the Christmas fund, and after praying about doing something at the fairgrounds we decided to try and rent the building,” said Our Daily Bread director Mike Justice. “It means no Christmas dinner or gifts this Christmas, but with the cold weather this is much more important.”

The money was well spent, judging by the reactions of people who enjoyed warm beds, showers, dinner Monday night and breakfast Tuesday morning when they could have been out in the elements.

“I normally stay outside, but it’s been so cold I would have frozen if this hadn’t been here,” said Richard Keehn, a 61-year-old man who is homeless and has been a resident of Crescent City off and on since 1959. “I helped set up yesterday. The food has been great, and it’s nice being warm.”

The chronically homeless were not the only people who needed a warm bed and shelter Monday night.

Robert Luftis, a Grants Pass, Ore., resident stuck in Crescent City because the roads were too bad for hitchhiking, would have been out in the cold without proper gear if it weren’t for the shelter.

“It would have been really bad.” Luftis said. “Two nights ago I slept outside and nearly froze. Last night would have been worse.”

Justice expects the number of people using the shelter to increase dramatically in coming days.

“I expect to see at least 10 people more a night from now on,” Justice said.

Luckily the arts and craft building has plenty of space and with the arrival Tuesday of 60 more cots, there are 180 now available.

Even in late morning, walking through the building’s doors out of the cold day and into the warm air was a relief.

The comfort that was apparent in the large room, despite the feeling of impermanence, was demonstrated by more than 10 people relaxing on cots and chatting quietly.

A long table was stacked with blankets and warm clothing donated by the community.

“We need more blankets, towels and warm clothes,” Justice said. “Food also would be very helpful.”

Donated food will be used to cook the meals at Our Daily Bread Ministries before they’re delivered to the shelter. Anyone can donate financially to Our Daily Bread online at www.dailybreadcc.org or can give directly to the shelter from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. For more information contact Justice at 954-9477.

Filling a need: Ministry celebrates second anniversary

Published: October 11, 2008

The Times-Standard

CRESCENT CITY -- Our Daily Bread Ministries is a nonprofit, faith-based feeding program that provides hot, nutritious meals to needy, homeless, disabled and low-income residents in the northwest corner of the state. The program is celebrating its two-year anniversary this month, with more than 23,000 square meals served to date.

”We provide many other free services to our needy and working poor as well, including free clothing (over 200 articles weekly), food boxes (as available), hygiene kits, tents, tarps, blankets and sleeping bags,” said ministry co-founder Rachel Justice. “We also provide referral, counseling, Bible studies, shower passes, laundry services, temporary emergency housing (when funds are available), and a wonderful, free drug and alcohol recovery program called 'Freedom Now.'”

Justice, whose husband, Mike, is one of the ministry's pastors and a co-founder, said Our Daily Bread is the only place between Humboldt County and Curry County (Ore.) where people can receive a free hot meal.

”This is especially useful to the homeless and others who have no means of cooking food,” she said. “Crescent City has long been in need of such an organization, though a few groups have tried to establish similar programs over the years, none have been able to continue due to various difficulties.”

When the weather turns extreme, the ministry has also in the past served as an emergency shelter.

One of its long-term goals, Justice said, is to become a permanent shelter because there is no such facility in Crescent City.

Our Daily Bread has been operating in the former Moose Lodge on Harrold Street in Crescent City for almost a year, but is faced with the challenges many nonprofits have to overcome.

”We have made many renovations to comply with safety standards, but still have many expensive improvements to make to come up to code,” said Justice. “We receive no grants and operate solely on donations from our community and surrounding regions.”

Justic said the ministry urgently needs financial and other help to repair the building's roof as well as provide for adequate fire exits and take care of its general operations expenses. Eventually, the founders hope to provide a homeless shelter and a 60-day, live-in recovery program

”We recently, because of the economy and financial limitations, had to go from feeding the needy five nights per week to only three,” she said. “While that was OK during the summer, now that fall is here and winter is coming, the need for a hot meal and a place to escape the weather is urgent.”

In addition, with the holiday season approaching, the ministry needs food for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and, Justice said, hopefully food boxes. It also gives out hundreds of Christmas gifts to needy children and to the public, and is now accepting donations of new toys and gifts.

The ministry serves dinner on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and offers Bible study on weekday mornings.

Those who would like to help can contact Our Daily Bread Ministries at, or send donations to, 1135 Harrold St., Crescent City, CA, 95531, or call 464-7771 or 954-9477.

More information can be found online at www.dailybreadcc.org, and donations can also be made online.

Photo: Pictured in front of Our Daily Bread Ministries in Crescent City are, from left, the Rev. Ray Watson, founder; Pastor Mike Justice, director and founder; and Pastor Tom Pawloski.

Daily Bread short on dough to pay lease

Published: April 3, 2008

By Adam Madison

Triplicate staff writer

Our Daily Bread Ministries, which provides food and other services to the homeless, may shut down this month unless the non-profit organization can raise enough money to buy the building where it currently operates, according to its director.

The organization serves about 80 meals a day, said director Mike Justice. Its lease expired March 13, but the building owner, Richard Brown, is trying to cooperate with the organization, Justice said.

"They didn't kick us out, but they could have," Justice said. "We have somebody that has said they're going to buy the building for us, but that hasn't happened just yet."

Justice declined to identify that person, who for now wishes to remain anonymous.

"We're attempting to make the funding necessary for purchasing the building," said Pastor Tom Pawloski, Justice's assistant.

Justice said the ministry started out as a food bank in March of last year, but due to the need, he wanted to offer more.

"We started out to feed the homeless and we found that there is a lot of low-income people in the community," he said.

Justice said the food and the services provided were to support the homeless and provide them with services until they can find a job.

"We offer clothing, we've got a washer and dryer, so people can wash their clothing before they go to work or to find work," said Justice.

The ministry also offers a drug and alcohol counseling program called "Freedom Now."

"It's a self-help, Christian-based rehabilitation program," said Justice.

"We use our regular mail for people who don't have an address to send out applications and resumés," said Justice.

Although the ministry provides a service to those in need, some Del Norte County residents oppose the concept, said Justice.

"Crescent City is saying that we're kind of enabling the homeless," he said.

He said the hardest hurdle to jump over each month is surviving on donations of money, food and time.

"Donations—that's how this ministry has been run the whole time," said Justice.

On March 31, the ministry's cupboards were bare, and a food drive from Curves, a women's gym in Crescent City, filled them up again.

"They did a food drive for Our daily Bread—It's about $500 in food," said Justice, pointing to an 8-foot cupboard, filled to the top with cartons, boxes and cans of food.

He said the ministry does not want to apply for federal or state grants because of the requirements that must be followed in order to receive the funding.

"Usually when you start receiving government funding, they tell you you have to ask for IDs," he said. "They put too many stipulations on what you have to do to serve a hot meal."

He said if the ministry stays open, he wants to eventually turn it into an actual shelter.

"Our long term goal is to have a 40- bed shelter," said Justice.

The need for a hot meal

Jessica Hernandez, executive assistant at Community Assistance Network, a Crescent City non-profit organization, spoke about the need to help homeless and low-income people.

"CAN offers a lot of the same services" as Our Daily Bread, Hernandez said. She said some of those services include clothing and work and rehabilitation programs.

CAN's food bank gives out a monthly box of food to people who meet requirements set forth by the state and also runs a community garden and counseling programs.

She said Our Daily Bread did offer something CAN does not—hot meals.

"They do a good job of providing warm meals, which is something that no other (local) service does," said Hernandez.

Another difference is that CAN applies for federal and state grant money and has to comply with the requirements to receive the funds.

"What we require is a social security card, passport or other form of identification to be part of the program," said Hernandez. She said the ‘passport' was a card issued by Social Services that shows eligibility for government funded assistance programs.

Reach Adam Madison at amadison@triplicate.com.

Our Daily Bread Ministries

•What: A non-profit service providing hot meals, laundry, clothing and household items to those in need, as well as drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs

•Where: 1135 Harold St., Crescent City

•Contacts for services, donations or to volunteer time: Mike Justice at 954-9477 or 464-7771