So we may not have a Betty Ford, or a Promises complete with a Hollywood starlet-filled waiting list. There’s no Dr. Phil or Dr. Keith. But when it comes to human services, Erie is known as a recovery town.

You may not believe it, but our area is considered a retreat or respite. Children, men and women living difficult to tragic lifestyles in places like Philadelphia or Pittsburgh are rescued to some of the finest physical and emotional rehabilitation and recovery facilities in the nation. The list is long: Harborcreek Youth Services, Perseus House, Catholic Charities, Safe Harbor, Stairways, Sarah Reed, Bethesda, Barber National Institute, Erie City Mission, Women’s Care Center, Salvation Army…I could go on and on. You could say that from Erie’s heart, an abundance of love is shared.

I’m very acquainted with the work of the Erie City Mission, having assisted with their advertising in indirect and direct ways for over five years. As their website says, the Erie City Mission is a Christian social outreach program created in 1911 by the famous evangelist Billy Sunday. Their ministry is broken down into three areas: Samaritan care (“three hots and a cot” emergency food and shelter), the New Life program (residential recovery and life skills training), and their treatment services for drugs, alcohol and gambling addictions. They also run a terrific Family Care Center sharing food baskets and clothes.

When you see the numbers behind just one of the agencies like the City Mission, you get a grasp of the depth of need in our region. Here’s how the Mission stacks up:

  • 150,000 free hot meals to the public yearly
  • 2,200 families served with free groceries and clothing each month
  • 500 men in recovery each year

I’ve heard it said that the Mission’s work with homeless men represents percentage points decrease in crime in our city. As their President, Jack Kovacs, said in their latest newsletter: “Without the Mission, what would happen to these men? Would they revert to the streets again, committing crimes to support their addictions? How safe would our community be if these men would be turned out to “make it” on their own? Who in our community would come forward to help them, and at what cost would it be done?”

That’s just one agency, catering to one slice of our area’s population, and they are making a huge difference to all of our quality of life. With human services in Erie, you can’t always place a dollars and cents value on their institutional impact. Indeed, many of our most-beloved caregivers work for peanuts. However, it is the question of what would happen if we lost them, how would life in Erie diminish without their good works, that must be asked. The answer is not governmental harassment or their being taken for granted, but celebration and appreciation for their efforts, often acting as the hands and feet of God.