Long Beach Rescue Mission

Description

Long Beach Rescue Mission is a place of healing and hope serving the greater Long Beach Community by improving the quality of life of the hurting and homeless through loving and equipping them to be reconciled to God, self, family, and society.

History

Troubled over the absence of emergency services for the homeless, founders Wayne and Janet Teuerle gathered support in the early seventies to open Long Beach Rescue Mission in an old shoe store that stood on the current World Trade Center site.

Through connections at Biola University, McDonnell Douglas and Bethany Baptist Church plus help from local law enforcement and city officials, the Teureles managed to serve 27 meals on opening day, offering a chapel service and a place to stay for 16 homeless men. That was August 7, 1972.

Later, in 1973, they started one of California’s few shelters for women and children with the purchase of a local residence for the original Lydia House, funded in part by the Good News Club and Ladies Auxiliary.

They also acquired a former clinic on 14th Street that was remodeled into a youth center – the first of its kind to focus on homelessness prevention and ministering to the young.