Sarah Russell is the assistant director at the Rescue Mission in Fairbanks.
The certificate commending the Rescue Mission Fairbanks for its work with Mature Alaskans Seeking Skills Training was issued in October.
On a cloud-covered, chilly day in late September, a group of seniors gathered in the men's chapel at the Fairbanks Rescue Mission. We were hosted by Sarah Russell, assistant shelter director. Six of the seniors were participants in the community service employment program called MASST (Mature Alaskans Seeking Skills Training).
Funded by the federal Department of Labor and administered by the Alaska Department of Labor, MASST recruits low-income seniors, 55 and older, to volunteer for 20 hours a week at community service agencies. The participants receive an hourly wage of $15 while gaining skills and confidence for a return to the workforce. At the same time, they provide the community with countless hours of service, supporting the goals of the host agency. For an hour that day, we were talking together about what makes a community thrive and grow.
The Fairbanks Rescue Mission opened its first shelter in February 1974. Now, 52 years later, the Mission operates an overnight emergency shelter for men, women, and children in Interior Alaska. The Mission is licensed for housing 120 men and 80 women, and the spacious facility at 723 27th Avenue, completed 25 years ago, allows for housing some adults with children.
In addition to the overnight shelter, the Mission provides residents with three meals a day, clothing and bedding through donations, and a well-developed program of ministry and education. In all of its work, the Rescue Mission is guided by the well-known Bible passage from Matthew 25: 35-40, where Jesus teaches that serving the unfortunate-the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the homeless, the stranger-is the true mission: "When you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!"
A year or so ago, the Rescue Mission realized that there was a need to allow residents to volunteer as MASST participants, even though earlier that had not been part of the policy. The result of the new policy has been remarkable. Now Tom Razani, the shelter director, and Sarah Russell, the assistant shelter director, recruit residents to become MASST participants. This makes the fit between the participant and the host agency more likely and more long-lasting than the MASST coordinator can fashion through interviews. The cooperation between the shelter directors and the MASST coordinator has become a model for recruiting MASST participants. In addition, the new policy allows the MASST participants living at the Mission to save for independent housing.
But there is more. For the six MASST seniors in our meeting, the partnership between the Rescue Mission and MASST has given them much more than a paycheck. Time and again during our conversation, the seniors spoke with deep feelings about gaining the trust of the Mission staff, being given new hope and optimism to turn their own lives around. They felt a return of confidence and independence that they had lost along the way. They cited health issues, recovery issues, and the feeling that the fire within had gone out. But now they could feel that fire being rekindled. They were rebuilding connections and making new friends. They were learning to be more giving, more understanding, and more forgiving of others and of themselves.
The seniors saw a lot of practical gifts in the MASST program and the hours they spent training as desk clerks, custodians, laundry workers, donation organizers, and kitchen helpers. For one resident, it was the discovery that he was a skilled maintenance person, enjoying fixing things in the building and around the grounds. Others found it a practical gift to learn that you are not alone, that you can look forward to the daily work you do. For another senior, it was important to say how difficult-even dangerous-it is to navigate the world these days. MASST and the Mission gave him a safe work environment. Practically, that means good food and a clean place to live. But it also means being able to say NO to the dangers outside. The whole group nodded when that senior called the experience "a godsend."
A similar experience has marked the journeys of the two shelter directors, Tom and Sarah. Tom has worked at the Mission since 2021, and he has seen the ways in which the MASST program and the Mission can cooperate in "serving and rehabilitating many of our most vulnerable clients." For Sarah, "One of the greatest blessings of my position is having the opportunity to serve people who may be standing where I once stood. I understand firsthand what it is like to walk through the doors of the Rescue Mission in need of help, hope, direction, and a new beginning."
These shared experiences may help define community. For some definitions, community is about groups living in a particular place, or groups sharing specific characteristics or interests. For me, the word evokes a feeling of connection among people, a link that is deeper and stronger than place or interests. The feeling of community comes from mutual respect and trust, but that doesn't mean the community and its members are perfect. For the seniors at the Rescue Mission, community means that if you stumble or fall short, someone will be there to pick you up and support you on the path. Not everyone will be taking the same path, but everyone in the community will feel trust and respect. They feel their shared humanity.
Jim Warren is the MASST coordinator for Northern and Interior regions, based in Fairbanks.
