Syracuse Rescue Mission Alliance’s Food Services Center serves three meals a day, every day of the year.

Located at 155 Gifford St., Syracuse Rescue Mission has been fundraising for a renovation to fulfill the center’s needs for an expansion and resources.

The mission recently received $200,000 from the KeyBank Foundation, a nonprofit organization funded by KeyCorp with “neighbors, education and workforce” as its service priorities.

The Food Services Center prepares about 700 free meals per day and almost 250,000 meals per year. But the center only holds about 80 people at a time, and its limited storage space has forced the center to turn away donations, at times.

Rescue Mission’s goal is to raise $1 million by the end of 2017 for the renovation.

Carolyn Hendrickson, the chief development officer at Rescue Mission, said the $200,000 grant has pushed the organization significantly closer to that number.

“We have raised over $3 million so far (over the past years),” Hendrickson said. “This will bring us up over four, and then we’re just about there.”

The expansion project is expected to begin at the start of 2018, Hendrickson said, and will allow the center to have two serving lines, tripled seating capacity, doubled storage space and a new dining area for families and children.

One of the center’s main commitments is staying open during the entire renovation. Hendrickson said the first step would be to move the loading dock from the front of the building to the side so the center can continue running during construction.

The project will also allow more students to enroll in an on-site food-service training program offered with the Syracuse City School District. Graduates of the program attain ServSafe certification that helps them secure jobs. Their participation also reduces labor cost for the Food Services Center.

“It’s really like a double bottom line to this project,” Hendrickson said. “Not only is it feeding those in need, but it’s also helping people learn skills for future employment.”

The Engagement Program at Hendricks Chapel goes to Rescue Mission every other Friday to volunteer at its different centers: the Food Service Center, the Crossroads Adult Home, the Alice C. Barber Day Center and the Kiesewetter Emergency Shelter.

“They’re very regimented,” said Alexis Bradford, the graduate assistant for the program, about food services. “(SU volunteers) have to work according to what’s going to best fit what they need to do to service the community.”

In addition to the upcoming expansion of food services, Rescue Mission will also launch a $16.7 million plan to revamp its 68-unit adult home and more than double its permanent housing units on campus by the end.

State grants and tax credits fund the project that will likely begin late 2018, according to the mission’s website. Rescue Mission finished its largest building project in 2015 when it opened the Alice C. Barber Day Center and Kiesewetter Emergency Shelter.

The day center and emergency shelter provide emergency shelter to women and contained dormitories, basic amenities and resource centers for employment, education and health services.

Rescue Mission has an annual budget of about $20 million, according to the mission’s website, and 52 percent comes from sales from the nonprofit’s 15 Thrifty Shopper stores plus 3Fifteen store.

Hendrickson said the nonprofit’s model may be a bit different from others in this regard. Only 11 percent of revenues comes from government funding and the rest is composed of traditional fundraising through special events, direct mails and donations from private foundations.

“I think because we have a central campus … and we have a lot of people on our campus, it became kind of a hub in the community to provide three meals a day,” Hendrickson said. “It’s really part of the continuum of care that we offer to end hunger and homelessness for people.”

Published on November 6, 2017 at 9:30 pm

Contact Jiaman: jpeng04@syr.edu