The Bowery Mission is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

nonprofit that provides hot meals, overnight shelter, and faith-based residential programs for New Yorkers experiencing homelessness. Its purpose statement reads: "The Bowery Mission exists to promote the flourishing of New Yorkers overcoming homelessness and marginalization." It is one of the oldest nonprofits in New York City and continues to provide hot meals and chapel services three times daily at its historic 227

Bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

campus between

Rivington Street Rivington Street is a street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which runs across the Lower East Side neighborhood, between the Bowery and Pitt Street, with a break between Chrystie and Forsyth for Sara D. Roosevelt Park. Vehicular traffi ...

and

Stanton Street Stanton Street is a west-to-east street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, in the neighborhood of the Lower East Side. The street begins at the Bowery in the west and runs east to a dead end past Pitt Street, adjacent to Hamilton Fish Pa ...

in the

neighborhood of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Since the 1990s, The Bowery Mission has expanded from a soup kitchen and men's shelter to providing programs and services at six campuses across the NYC metro area. It is a member of the Citygate Network and is accredited by the ECFA.

Programs

Programs for Adults

At its downtown campuses, The Bowery Mission provides hot meals, clothing, safe overnight shelter and other basic needs and emergency services for New Yorkers experiencing hunger and homelessness. At its uptown campuses, The Bowery Mission provides faith-based Residential Programs for adults in crisis to achieve personal goals for life and work, heal from past trauma, and overcome barriers to independent living.

Programs for Children

The Bowery Mission's programs for children, Mont Lawn Summer Camp and City Camp, provide children from low-income neighborhoods with opportunities for leadership, skill building, and personal growth. Located in East Harlem and the South Bronx, Mont Lawn City Camp offers year-round enrichment classes, tutoring, and mentoring for children and youth.

History

The Bowery Mission was founded in 1879 by the Reverend Albert Gleason Ruliffson and Ellen Dorchester Ruliffson. It was the third rescue mission established in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the second in New York City after Water Street Mission established by

Jerry McAuley Jeremiah "Jerry" McAuley (1839 – September 18, 1884), along with his wife, Maria McAuley (née Fahy) , founded the McAuley Water Street Mission (now the New York City Rescue Mission) in Lower Manhattan. Known as the "apostle for the lost," Mc ...

and

Maria McAuley Maria McAuley (née Fahy) and Maria Fahy Gilbert (1847 – September 19, 1919) was an American missioner who, along with her husband Jerry, founded the McAuley Water Street Mission (now the New York City Rescue Mission) to shelter the poor of New ...

in 1872. It was had long been the wish of the Jerry McAuley to open a similar mission on the East Side. He frequently talked over the subject with the Ruliffsons, and they opened the mission in a small room at 14 Bowery. Before finding its permanent home at 227 Bowery, the Mission operated in a number of locations in the Bowery neighborhood. It moved to 36 Bowery in 1880 followed by 105 Bowery in 1887. When 105 Bowery was destroyed by fire in 1898, the Mission moved to 55 Bowery and remained there until the building was scheduled to be demolished to make way for the approaches to the

Manhattan Bridge The Manhattan Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the East River in New York City, connecting Lower Manhattan at Canal Street with Downtown Brooklyn at the Flatbush Avenue Extension. The main span is long, with the suspension cables be ...

. In the 1880s,

Fanny Crosby Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns ...

became a favorite guest at the Mission and was frequently asked to give an address. For 16 years, Crosby wrote a new hymn to be sung at The Bowery Mission anniversary celebration held in November. In 1895 the Mission was bought by Dr.

Louis Klopsch Louis Klopsch (March 7, 1852 – March 6, 1910) was a German-American journalist, publisher, and fundraiser for charitable causes. He originated red letter editions of the Bible. Early life Louis Klopsch was born in Lübben, Prussia on March 7 ...

, owner of the

Christian Herald The ''Christian Herald'' was an American weekly newspaper reporting on topics relevant to Evangelical Christianity, with an emphasis on engaging with humanitarian causes at home and abroad. It was inspired by the London-based newspaper which cease ...

, to save it from economic distress. It became one of many domestic charities sponsored by the publication. Klopsch became president and the Mission was formally incorporated as Bowery Mission and Young Men's Home in 1897. One prominent board member was Sarah J. Bird, a philanthropist who was known as "the Mother of the Bowery Mission" due to her long-time service to the organization from 1881 to 1914. In 1900, The Bowery Mission came under the supervision of John Greener Hallimond, originally from England. Hallimond introduced many innovative services, such as a home for women in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, a Free Labor Bureau, and the famed breadline, which began in 1902. The Free Labor Bureau, which connected laborers with farm work outside the city, was opened in 1908 in response to rampant unemployment. Transportation was provided to locations as far as 50 miles away.

227 Bowery Location

The Bowery Mission moved to its current location at 227 Bowery in 1909. On June 26, 2012, 227 Bowery was designated a

New York City landmark The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

. 227 Bowery was originally built in 1876 for Jonas Stolts, an

undertaker A funeral director, also known as an undertaker (British English) or mortician (American English), is a professional involved in the business of funeral rites. These tasks often entail the embalming and burial or cremation of the dead, as w ...

and manufacturer of coffins. It was designed by William Jose in the neo-Grec style. The building was altered in 1908-09 for the Mission's use by Marshall L. and Henry G. Emery. The Emerys remodeled the facade in a

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

style reminiscent of an English Inn and installed

stained glass window Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

s by Benjamin Sellers depicting the

Parable of the Prodigal Son The Parable of the Prodigal Son (also known as the parable of the Two Brothers, Lost Son, Loving Father, or of the Forgiving Father) is one of the parables of Jesus Christ in the Bible, appearing in Luke 15:11–32. Jesus shares the parable with ...

the second floor. The interior was remodeled into a chapel in the

Gothic Revival style Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. In 1928, the ''Christian Herald'' purchased the property from the Stolts family, from whom they had leased the property since 1909. In the 1970s, the Mission's front doors were painted their iconic red by Frank Grande, a former alcoholic and "Bowery Bum." One night, after being stabbed in a park, Grande came to the Mission's doors bleeding. Grande chose the color red in homage to that encounter and to "symbolize Christ's blood as the entrance to life." In 1980, the Mission acquired the

Federal-style Federal-style architecture is the name for the classicizing architecture built in the newly founded United States between 1780 and 1830, and particularly from 1785 to 1815, which was heavily based on the works of Andrea Palladio with several inn ...

townhouse next door, 229 Bowery, and merged it with 227. The mission continues to provide meals and chapel services three times daily at this location. Chapel attendance is not required to receive a meal.

Today

Beginning in the 2000s, new efforts were made toward expansion and the Mission opened residences for adults on the Upper East Side (2005), Harlem (2012) and East Harlem (2013). In November 2017,

New York City Rescue Mission New York City Rescue Mission, now a controlled affiliate of The Bowery Mission, was founded in 1872 by Jerry McAuley and his wife, Maria with the purpose of providing a soup kitchen and homeless shelter. History Homelessness was on the rise in ...

became a controlled affiliate of The Bowery Mission. Under The Bowery Mission's leadership, its former campus at 90 Lafayette St. campus continues to provide emergency shelter and services with beds available on a walk-in basis. Location at 90 Lafayette St

In 2020, The Bowery Mission provided more than 429,500 meals, 104,000 nights of shelter, 67,500 emergency showers, and 27,600 articles of clothing. In 2019, The Bowery Mission and its controlled affiliates received more than $7.3 million worth of donated food, clothing, and other items. In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Bowery Mission continued to provide shelter and housing for nearly 325 people every night.

Connection to Mont Lawn Camp

The Bowery Mission was one of many domestic charities formerly sponsored by the

under the leadership of

. In 1894, with money left over from a food drive, Klopsch established a children's home at Mont Lawn in

Upper Nyack, New York Upper Nyack is a village incorporated in 1872 in the town of Clarkstown, Rockland County, New York, United States. It is located north of the village of Nyack, east of Valley Cottage, south of Rockland Lake State Park, and west of the Hudson R ...

to serve children from immigrant families living in the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

. It remained at Nyack-on-the-Hudson for 69 years before it moved to the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania in 1961. After the Herald ceased publication in 1992, Mont Lawn Camp continued under the ownership and operation of The Bowery Mission.

References

External links

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The Bowery Mission
on

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The Bowery Mission
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{{coord, 40.722094, -73.993096, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-NY, display=title 1879 establishments in New York (state) Christian missions in North America Bowery New York City Designated Landmarks in Manhattan Social welfare charities based in the United States Christian charities Christian charities based in the United States Christian relief organizations Non-profit organizations based in New York City Social welfare parachurch organizations City and Gospel Rescue Missions Organizations based in New York City Christian missions Homelessness charities Lower East Side Homeless shelters in the United States Charities based in New York City