At the Boston Rescue Mission, our programs and services focus a great deal on preventing homelessness. When families of greater Boston have budgets stretched so thin that they must choose between feeding themselves and staying in their homes, our meal programs relieve pressure on caregivers and allow them to focus resources in other areas to prevent a homeless situation. As men and women in need of employment struggle to make ends meet, our vocational development programs help to prepare them for higher-paying positions in today's workplaces. On the journey through recovery from alcohol and drug addiction, our residential recovery programs strengthen and empower our clients by building and reinforcing a solid foundation of sobriety. From a state of sobriety, clients then can rebuild self-esteem in a supportive and accountable recovery environment and break the cycle of addiction that so often leads to homelessness. Our range of services also strives to meet the needs of a population of female ex-offenders. The goal of this re-entry program is to reduce recidivism, increase public safety, and help female ex-offenders to re-enter society as independent women living fulfilling and crime-free lives. By supporting our brothers and sisters in times of need, we enable them to focus on maintaining a stable housing situation for themselves and their families.

For those clients caught in the throes of street living or in the vicious cycle of addiction, detoxification, and relapse, our facilities and programs work toward ending homelessness. Our staff and community volunteers help to stabilize lives in crisis by serving hot meals to anyone who is hungry. Our Safe & Healthy program offers a warm and safe place to sleep every night of the year. Our volunteers meet and counsel Safe & Healthy program members about leaving street life and entering recovery programs like those at the Mission. Those same recovery programs bring much more than just sobriety--they bring hope to men and women who felt their lives slipping away from them; hope that the bleak world of addiction and homelessness will finally come to an end.