Waterfront Rescue Mission, Inc.

Since 1949 Waterfront Rescue Mission, located in Mobile and Pensacola, has served over 59,000 homeless individuals along the Gulf Coast, opening its doors to people from all walks of life while serving them with kindness and compassion. Waterfront works hard to address each man’s specific issues by providing personal, local solutions, which include emergency shelter and supportive services. Waterfront’s team of staff and dedicated volunteers provides first for their basic needs: food, shelter, clothing, and safety. Staff members ensure that each client is stabilized, and then encourage them to examine the causes of their homelessness, addressing their individual needs.

Waterfront proposes to help homeless men overcome barriers and reclaim their futures through stabilizing services. Opportunities exist for those with long-term goals, like securing gainful employment and obtaining housing, or for those simply needing a night of shelter.

• Overnight Shelter – Waterfront provides homeless men with a safe, warm place to sleep, a nutritious breakfast and dinner, a shower, toiletries, and clothing.
• Veterans’ Care Program – Waterfront partners with the VA to help homeless Veterans secure eligible benefits, such as pension, housing, and medical assistance. The average stay is 37 days as Veterans await housing or benefits.
• Chronically Homeless Dormitory – Waterfront provides a dorm with additional help to those who have been homeless more than a year, or those with four episodes of homelessness in the last three years, by connecting them with organizations which assist them in becoming productive individuals.
• Working Homeless Dormitory – Waterfront provides a safe, warm place to stay for the homeless who are already employed while striving to save enough money to secure their own residence.
• Work Training Program – Additional care is extended to residents who are able to work in various positions critical to the overall operation of our Men’s Shelter. This 45-day program is designed to help clients gain life- and job-readiness skills which will help them secure employment, leading them to a stable and self-supportable housing arrangement.
• Recuperation Dormitory – Due to Covid-19, the Recuperation Dormitory is being used, if needed, for an isolation area for those exhibiting flu-like symptoms.
• LifeBuilder Recovery Program – A 90 day, Christian, residential, recovery program for men designed to rebuild a man's life, hope, and purpose
• Career Development Program – on-campus classes are offered, addressing common topics and obstacles faced by homeless men

Waterfront has established a strong network of committed and credible community partners who support our current and proposed initiatives. Primary collaborators include the following:

• Veterans Affairs assists homeless Veterans regain their benefits while they have a place to stay at Waterfront.
• Feeding the Gulf Coast collects and distributes food to those in need.
• Opening Doors of NWFL assists homeless to procure an ID card and to find housing.
• Community Health of NWFL, located on Waterfront’s campus, provides medical care and medicine to those in need, as well as provides the physicals required for staying at Waterfront.
• Community Action Program assists in funding for GED classes taught by Pensacola State College.
• Lakeview Center refers clients to Waterfront and assists Waterfront with clients needing detox.

Waterfront programs are sustained through monetary donations from individuals, organizations, and foundations, as well as revenue from our seven retail Thrift Stores. Donations of food, toiletries, and other items used at the Mission help offset expenses.

Thousands of men have graduated our recovery program since Waterfront began in 1949. In 2020, 44 men graduated our recovery program in Pensacola and Mobile. 99,200 were fed. 37,405 received a night of shelter. Thousands of articles of clothing and toiletries have been handed out. All those served have had the gospel preached to them.

Waterfront has been operating during Covid-19 with limited staffing to help ensure the Mission’s long-term financial viability. As the demand for services and capacity escalates in 2021 and beyond, Waterfront will increase expenditures in a financially-responsible manner, recognizing the communities’ dependence on Waterfront’s vital services and long-term viability. Waterfront is operated by business professionals who lead the Mission with financially-responsible, scalable, adaptive, and sound business principles.