On a mission

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2000 | 11:10 a.m.

After 16 months in operation, a forced move from its original home and a name change to avoid confusion with a longtime local homeless shelter, the City Mission of Las Vegas is gaining acceptance among local agencies that help the poor.

"We still get calls from potential donors who ask if we are legitimate," said Pastor Tom Klingforth, executive director of the City Mission, one of 12 homeless agencies operated nationwide by the Los Angeles Mission.

"We tell anyone who calls, come on down and look at our records. We are not concerned because we have nothing to hide," he said. "And we hope once they come down and see our operation, they also get involved."

During the past 12 months, the City Mission, as the only organization of its kind based in downtown Las Vegas, doled out 1,942 food boxes that provided 20,104 meals to the poor and gave 3,398 needy people 25,440 articles of clothing.

Early on the organization had to overcome criticism that it attempted to ride the coattails of the 29-year-old Las Vegas Rescue Mission.

When the Los Angeles Mission opens a new branch, it traditionally names it after the city in which it is established, such as the Riverside City Mission, the San Bernardino City Mission and the Tampa City Mission.

But when the Las Vegas City Mission opened, it drew concerns from longtime Rescue Mission Director the Rev. Ed Compton, who demanded the new agency change its name to avoid confusion. The City Mission complied, though it took several months to do so.

"I did not pursue the matter after they agreed to change their name," said Compton, who today is director emeritus of the Rescue Mission. "Once I was sure that it would not disrupt the work we were doing here, we did not want to be combative with another organization that is trying to help the homeless."

When the Rev. David Blacksmith took over the day-to-day operation of the Rescue Mission last February, he went a step further and extended an olive branch to Klingforth.

"My wife and I went to Tom's office to meet Tom and his wife to examine ways we could network," Blacksmith said. "Despite what some people may believe, local organizations are not in competition for the homeless. There are plenty of clients."

Blacksmith, a member of the steering committee for the Southern Nevada Homeless Coalition, praised the City Mission for its participation in that countywide organization last year.

"We want a good working relationship with the City Mission and everyone else," Blacksmith said. "For example, they do a lot of food box work with the homebound. When we get calls like that, we refer them to the City Mission."

Likewise, when downtown homeless people are looking for a place to sleep, the City Mission directs them to the Rescue Mission at 480 W. Bonanza Road because the City Mission does not have a shelter.

The City Mission is lucky to have a roof over its head.

Last October the building that housed its original headquarters at 1126 E. Fremont St. was sold. Because the purchaser wanted to rent that prime corner lot to a more high-profile business, the City Mission was offered a two-year lease in a building just a half block away at 1118 E. Fremont St.

"Naturally, we would have wanted to stay in the corner lot, but we actually have more square footage at our new location," Klingforth said. "It was not a major setback."

While the Rescue Mission and City Mission still occasionally receive donation checks intended for the other, they say that occurs less frequently than it did 13 months ago. And both agencies say they reroute the gifts to the intended receiver.

While both agencies offer some different services, much of what they do is the same. And given the nature of the business, they agree that is to be expected.

"We never came here with any intent on creating something new," Klingforth said. "One thing we have going for us is that we are located downtown. We see about 200 to 300 people a day who walk in off the street and say they are in need of something."

Klingforth said his agency's goal is to go beyond giving people clothes and food to provide them with a sense of self-worth.

For instance, the agency's more than 200 volunteers, who last year put in more than 7,800 hours, are instructed to say things like they are "providing meals" for the homeless not "feeding them."

Klingforth said the second phrase sounds like they are "herding people like cattle to feed them. They are not cattle. They are people."

When the City Mission was established, one of its goals was to get people off drugs and alcohol by enrolling them in a long-term sobriety program at the Los Angeles Mission. However, the City Mission of Las Vegas has enrolled just 10 people in that program.

"I do a lot of screening, because I don't want people to think this is just a free trip to L.A.," Klingforth said. "It is a program that takes a lot of commitment."

To date, one Las Vegas person has graduated from the program and four are still enrolled. By homeless industry standards, those are good numbers, Klingforth said.

While there are no immediate plans for the City Mission to open a downtown homeless shelter, Klingforth said he hopes to one day purchase houses that would be operated as group homes for a locally run drug and alcohol rehabilitation program.

Meanwhile, business remains brisk at the Rescue Mission, a complex that stretches over two city blocks and each night provides beds for 100 to 125 homeless people.

The Rescue Mission gives away about 40,000 food items a month, including 639 turkeys that were doled out to the poor days before Thanksgiving. Also, 2,600 people were served Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at the Rescue Mission last year.

But Compton and Blacksmith agree with Klingforth that there is more to helping the poor than clothing and feeding them.

"You have to have a heart for this kind of work," said Compton who at 76 plans to retire soon. "I've often said that if the homeless were to disappear tomorrow a lot of us would be out of work. But that is not going to happen."

And it appears that the City Mission, like the Rescue Mission, is in it for the long haul.

"I feel we are on schedule for what we are trying to accomplish," Klingforth said. "What I am most happy about is the positive feedback I get from the people on the street, and that is far more important than what anyone else thinks.

"When people come through our doors they are treated with kindness. It's a hard life on the street without the comforts many of us take for granted, like a bathroom and a bed with your own sheets on it. Just by treating someone kind, you can often make an impact on their lives."