Rescue Mission of Salt Lake feeds hundreds of homeless on Good Friday

SALT LAKE CITY — For most of the morning and into the afternoon, the line stretched from the street corner to the center of Pioneer Park.

On Good Friday, hundreds of Salt Lake Valley's homeless came for a warm meal — a plate piled high with pancakes, sausage and hash browns.

Dressed in a brown suit jacket over his salmon shirt and tie, Don Hill snapped photographs with his digital camera.

There was a time when Hill might have been standing in line, waiting for a meal.

"Most of my life, I was a functioning addict," he said. "I held a lot of good jobs. I paid my taxes. But I had a cocaine and meth addiction that was growing."

Hill found himself isolated from his family. He divorced his wife and lost touch with his children.

"The drugs really took hold of me," he said.

Hill found himself sleeping behind a Dumpster just off Main Street in Magna.

"People would ask where I slept, and I would tell them I slept at a friend's," he said. "They would turn their backs, and I would step into the dark."

It wasn't until a brush with death pushed him to participate in the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake's New Life Program that Hill cleaned up and moved off the streets.

Now he works as a life coach for the mission. He hopes to bring a few more people into the light.

"The rest of the population is celebrating Good Friday and Easter. We want our homeless friends to have an opportunity for something special," said Chris Cros?white, the Rescue Mission of Salt Lake's executive director. "Our goal is to love our homeless friends so much that they want to change their lives."

The Good Friday brunch was a brief respite for the hundreds who lined up at Pioneer Park.

"This is something we don't normally get. The mission is doing a good thing today," said a man named Robert as he ate in the park.

It was a break from worrying about securing a bed for the night, being questioned by police or wondering what will happen when the overflow closes.

"A lot of people don't know what really goes on out here," said Robert, who found himself living on the streets after being involved in a domestic dispute.

Those who participate in the Rescue Mission's recovery program, meanwhile, said they hoped they could convince a few people who might need it to seek help for addiction and mental illness.

"Ninety-nine days ago, I was a wretched man," said Daniel McGinnis, a recovery program student who was helping to serve drinks Friday. "Today, I'm a new creation in Christ."

e-mail: afalk@desnews.com