Springs Rescue Mission

My husband and I stayed at the springs rescue mission for 2 months and this were the worst 2 months of our life!! When we first arrived it seemed fine everyone was nice and helpful. Then on the 3rd day that's when things went down hill. We were asked to participate in a group called Hope program so we attended the meeting and it felt very strange. The Chaplin spoke first and said that they help out the members of the hope program with a better bed better food and pretty much everything was gonna be better then what the people that didn't choose to join the group. The Chaplin makes you feel very awkward he's creepy. They expect you to not get a job to be able to get back on your feet they say that you are allowed to work for only enough money to buy your essentials because they say that they are putting you through a job training. The job training is cleaning the whole center or work in the kitchen handing food out and hot water because you have to have your own instant coffee. They are telling these poor souls that they are educating them but there doing all the work so that they don't have to pay people to cook or hire a cleaning company. You are expected to stay in this program for 4 years. Everyone said that they swear they are a Colt lol. If you don't join you have to eat a huge pile of oatmeal on a plate sometimes they will give frozen berries no milk no sugar just a huge pile of over cooked oatmeal everyday for breakfast. Then for lunch you get a sack lunch with a very hard old pb&j sandwich some dry fruit an apple that's rotten everyday same lunch. Dinner is a bowl of soup with some mystery meat some beans pastas of all different types and carrots and potatoes and this is what we get served every single evening for dinner never changes oh and they also give you a very hard piece of dry bread or a bagel that has raisins and cinnamon on it to eat with their soup not a very good match. Now for the sleeping arrangements for the people that are not in the Hope program we have to pick out a Matt and lay on a hard concrete floor or try and get a bunk bed as quickly as possible you are not even able to walk around because the mats touch theres no room they all touch I think this maybe a fire hazard. The evening staff are very rude and mean and not helpful they like to play little games with the homeless people and try and humiliate them and make them cry. Now if you are in the Hope program you get to sleep on a very nice bed in a new building with a thick mattress on a bunk bed with lots of space for your things. Your breakfast will consist of eggs bacon or sausage potatoes toast and hot coffee. The Hope program people eat a hot lunch in the cafeteria room. For dinner they have lots of different choices they give them pasta or different types of meat and veggies and salad and fresh fruit and coffee and other drinks such as juice or soda. These people are segregating if you do not join the Hope program you are treated very very bad and they only will help out the Hope program members and the people that are in the Hope program are sick of what they're putting them through. Lots of people donate to this organization and they think their money is going to a good place that is going to help the homeless in actuality your money is going towards their paycheck. Something needs to be done to fix all of this because it's not fair we are all homeless in the same situation and they're trying to segregate and it's not fair and it's not godly. I always have told my husband if I was ever able to help the homeless when I get on my feet that we would go out and hand out things to the homeless that we know you need to survive on the streets instead of donating to a non-profit organization such as the Springs rescue mission. They have kicked people out in the middle of the night for nothing and those people have been found frozen to death. This is the only adult homeless shelter in Colorado Springs. There is another program that does very well with helping the homeless by having them stay in churches on very cold winter nights where you know you would freeze to death if you had nowhere to go. This organization was so wonderful to my husband and I they let us stay in the church all day long so we wouldn't have to freeze outside because I am disabled and my husband is my caregiver. They make sure they fed us breakfast lunch and dinner and snacks and extra dinner sometimes they were such a wonderful program. If you would love to donate to help the homeless I recommend this program it is called hope cos. Org very very good people. Well I hope that someone reads my comment someone that is able to speak up to a higher up about the terrible Springs Rescue mission and a change is made for the homeless. My husband and I now have our very own apartment thanks to God. ❤️