Rescue Mission food drive begins amidst change in leadership

Oct. 22—By Van Taylor's approximation, the Kokomo Rescue Mission served roughly 1.2 million meals during his tenure as executive director.

Now, Taylor is passing the baton to Kevin Smith, formerly the executive pastor at Crossroads Community Church. To help the transition run smoothly, Taylor is assisting with the Rescue Mission's fall food drive one last time.

The food drive will run through the remainder of October.

Donated food is used to provide daily lunch and supper, feed people in the Rescue Mission's shelter and for the organization's assistance program, where people who qualify by income are able to visit a food pantry.

Taylor explained the Rescue Mission is particularly looking for canned and boxed food. Glass and crushable packaging doesn't store as well.

"We'll take anything," Taylor said. "It's just that we don't want tomato sauce over everything."

Some items, such as canned fruit and meals in a can, are more desirable, the former executive director added. Protein will also be highly sought after this year, because the Rescue Mission wasn't able to receive pork from the Howard County 4-H Fair this year.

"A wide range of food is acceptable. It's just that when you're bringing stuff in bulk, cans are much easier to handle than anything else," said Steve Gollner, a pastor at Mt. Gilead Church who helps coordinate food drives at the Rescue Mission.

The fall food drive is the only food drive the Rescue Mission takes on by itself and, this year, people seem to need the Rescue Mission's help a little more, Taylor said.

Since the beginning of the year, Taylor said, the Rescue Mission has served 60,000 meals. Comparatively, the Mission had served 46,000 by this time last year.

"We're up 32% in meals served," Taylor said. "So the goal, obviously, is to have enough food for this increase that we're experiencing."

Taylor said inflation is likely the cause of the Rescue Mission's free meals seeing more popularity.

"It's hit you, it's hit me," Taylor said. "But if you're on a very small fixed income to start with, then you just run out of money somewhere and you have to decide what you're not going to buy."

In the 16 1/2 years that he's worked at the Rescue Mission, Taylor said inflation has made this year's food drive one of the most important. He added his hope is that struggling community members will continue to purchase necessary things, such as medicine and toiletries, knowing they can obtain a free meal at the Rescue Mission.

"Coming out of COVID, I think more and more folks are now more and more out," Smith added. "Whereas before, there was a season where folks didn't feel safe enough to even come out and get meals."

Smith also said grocery stores now sell old canned goods to dollar stores instead of donating them to the Rescue Mission.

Throughout the years, Taylor said, the Rescue Mission's food drive has gone through different changes. It started as an event called Yes, We Can and later adopted a school food drive.

In total, the different versions of the fall food drive have existed for more than 20 years.

Gollner remembered Yes, We Can. He explained it had been a collaborative effort between different youth pastors who would organize door-to-door canned food collections with young people in their church.

The Kokomo Rescue Mission later shifted to a generalized fall food drive for organizational purposes. Although the same churches are involved in the food drive, Gollner said, they're now able to be more intentional with the type of food that gets dropped off at the Rescue Mission.

Debbi Springer, public relations coordinator with the Kokomo Rescue Mission, added the general fall food drive also includes community members who aren't affiliated with one of the participating schools or churches.

A friendly competition has emerged between organizations that participate in the food drive. The top three schools and churches that collect the most food will receive trophies, Springer said.

Springer added the fall food drive brought in 23,832.9 pounds — almost 11 tons — of food in 2021.

Last year, Taylor noted, a Western fifth grader brought in 5,000 cans of food to help the school win a first-place trophy.

"It's healthy fun," he added.

"We want to meet people where they're at," Gollner said. "Jesus often met with people over a meal."

He added that by helping someone with a physical need, people working with the Rescue Mission are also able to address spiritual needs.

"There's lots of different ways to measure a community, what kind of community it is, how good of a community it is," Smith said. "One of the measurements is how does that community respond to the needs of that community, to those that need and don't have the means."

The incoming executive director added that the food drive in one of the ways the community is able to support the Rescue Mission's goals.

"A meal and a pillow are sometimes the first steps to a life changed," Taylor said. "You can look at the wealthiest neighborhoods and judge a community or you can look at how many are poor and what their neighborhoods look like."

The best communities, Taylor said, are the ones that take care of people who are in need.

Looking at retirement

Taylor said approximately 8,900 men, women and children found shelter through the Rescue Mission during his time as the executive director.

"To know that you're providing that safe harbor, at a time when there's a storm in their life, I think it's really just neat to be a part of that," Taylor said, adding that he suspects the impact of the Rescue Mission is likely why employees tend to stick around.

The faith-based side of the organization, he said, has also been an important aspect of his work.

Taylor said he's most proud of his work when people "really decide they're going to change their life and they're going to walk a new path." He calls those instances "God moments."

"Hopefully you've changed somebody, not for today or tomorrow, but for eternity," Taylor said. "The thrill of that is just about the limit."

Often, he explained, sitting in the dinning hall and speaking to residents has fueled him to keep going.

"But obviously, there's other things I want to do," Taylor said, adding he would like to spend more time with his family.

"I really felt in the life of the mission, this was an ideal time," Taylor said. "After coming through COVID, I think everybody needs to do a reset. Because life is different."

Smith said he feels honored to come into the position after Taylor. His first official day on the job was Sept. 6.

"I'm a longtime resident of this community and longtime church leader and pastor. I have admired, supported and partnered with the mission for over three decades," the incoming executive director said.

Smith said he's glad to be working with Taylor during his early days as director, and he is excited for the future of the Rescue Mission.

James Bennett III can be reached at 765-454-8580 or james.bennett@kokomotribune.com.