Mission of Hope plans two-day weekly shutdown due to insufficient funding

CEDAR RAPIDS - Mission of Hope is making some cutbacks due to a tight budget.

The organization that helps homeless people and others in need depends solely on donations - no government funding - to make ends meet.

The non-profit at the intersection of 17th Street Northeast and B Avenue Northeast said it must shut down its day-to-day operations two days a week.

For the month of August, it will only operate its food pantry, clothes closet and community meal program four days each week, instead of the usual six.

Blake Wagner volunteers for Mission of Hope. He's homeless and knows firsthand how the organization helps people.

'There's people out there that don't have homes, that can't pay their bills,” Wagner said.

Recently, however, it was the organization that found itself in a tight spot.

'We are organizing carwashes, we are collecting cans, we are doing everything you can imagine to raise any number of dollars,” said Mission of Hope Executive Director Martin Dwyer.

Dwyer said the non-profit has decided to close its main building at 1700 B Ave. NE every Friday and Saturday during the month of August.

'It was very hard. I mean whenever you are going to cut services, there are people that pay the prices of that and so you don't want to take that lightly,” Dwyer said.

He said donations for operations have significantly dwindled and this move will save two to three thousand dollars.

'Today (Wednesday) we saw 176 meals served at our noon meal program, and we are seeing between 150 and 200 every single day. So that'll be the biggest numbers of people that won't be served those two days of the week,” Dwyer said.

The organization said it only considered this two-day shutdown because it knew other organizations currently have summer meal programs underway. Those, however, will end when school starts.

Dwyer said people get busy in the summer and forget about donations.

The Mission of Hope's goal is to use the month of August to catch up, raise money and start fresh with a full schedule in September to continue helping people, like Blake.

'I came in the door with nothing, and now I have more than I can carry,” Wagner said.

The Mission of Hope's Men's homeless shelter will not be impacted by this shutdown schedule. The organization also said the building that it moved into last November isn't the reason behind this budget shortfall. The executive director said it's cheaper to operate in the new space.

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