Allentown, PA - The Allentown Rescue Mission has discontinued the Life Recovery program, a state-licensed residential drug and alcohol program, due to low client participation rates and the availability of alternative drug and alcohol programs in the Lehigh Valley. This action will enable the Allentown Rescue Mission to better focus resources on its core mission: rescue, rehabilitation and restoration for people in crisis.

The Allentown Rescue Mission has served the needs of the homeless community since the early 1900’s, with our first mission statement completed in 1906.  The Life Recovery program was started in 1997. It offered in-patient, non-hospital, residential treatment for drug and alcohol addiction for men over the age of 18.  Four clients are being evaluated by drug and alcohol treatment professionals to further determine the clients’ needs and what other programs in the area would serve as appropriate placement for continued treatment.  The Life Recovery clients will remain in the Mission’s care, receiving food and shelter until a plan is formulated for their individual well-being.

“The Allentown Rescue Mission will continue working hard to help homeless and impoverished men successfully transition to a life of self-sufficiency,” said Tom Gibson, Allentown Rescue Mission Board President.  

For more than 100 years, the Mission has been a place where men have begun to experience restoration with God, their families and their communities. The Mission’s goal for each man is self-sufficiency. Its programs aim to end homelessness one person at a time and in some cases, preventing it. They include: the Gateway Center (emergency shelter), the Christian Living and Values Program (life skills and transitional living), the Clean Team (workforce development/jobs program) and housing.  Last year, the Mission spent more than $2.5 million on programs, jobs and housing for homeless men.