Bessemer rescue mission to build new facility

Marianne, 24, went to the City of Hope Rescue Mission and Recovery Center in Bessemer several years ago as her last resort. After losing her husband, losing her children to the Department of Human Resources and losing her dignity to a life of abuse, drugs and prostitution, she lost her unborn baby because of substance addiction.
She went to City of Hope because she had nothing more to lose. From that point on, she’s done nothing but gain.
   
In 2000, she gained her GED, renewed her vows with her husband and regained her children. Now, Marianne Culver is women’s director for City of Hope, a ministry that — like her — is thriving even beyond its original boundaries.
   
The hundreds turned away from the Christian-based rehabilitation ministry because of lack of space have sparked the planning of a new facility adjacent to City of Hope’s current building in Bessemer.
   
The proposed two-story building will provide new educational space, administration and counseling offices, a library and computer lab.
   
The expansion will allow the old building to be converted into additional housing, a move Leslie Freeman, City of Hope development director, said is “very exciting” for the ministry.
   
“It’s standing room only there now,” said Bill Heintz, executive director of City of Hope. Though 70 percent of the funding for City of Hope is generated by the work of the residents, additional funding of $1.5 million will need to be raised for the new building project.
   
“Forty-five hundred people were turned away last year — that tears my heart out,” said Gov. Bob Riley at the Oct. 23 Hope Awards Banquet.
   
“We’re in a war for the soul of our country, and we don’t have the passion and intensity the other side has. We must regain it; so many are dependent on that.”
   
Riley added that the participation of community members — such as architects who have volunteered their time toward the building of the new facility — would aid in bringing this new project to pass.
   
Tony Petelos, volunteer general contractor at City of Hope, has already invested much elbow grease into the renovating of the current administration building into additional housing for 30 men, a project that is precursor to the new building campaign.
“We started drawing the plans a year ago, and the residents have been doing the work of rebuilding,” said Petelos, a general contractor in Hoover and former commissioner of the Department of Human Resources. The project installed a new kitchen to serve hot meals, a laundry room and an upgraded medical facility for the needy.
   
“Completion depends on fund raising, but we hope to be finished in the next three months,” Petelos said.
   
Initiating construction on the new building also hinges on fund raising, Petelos said.
   
But it is hoped efforts such as the banquet on Oct. 23 will contribute significantly to the need.
   
Brenda Ladun, news anchor for Alabama’s ABC 33/40 and member of Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover, said the work she sees at City of Hope is worthy of expansion.
   
Ladun, who recently battled cancer, said she found hope through Jesus Christ rather than sinking into depression.
   
“When I went out to City of Hope and met all the beautiful people who share the same hope in Jesus Christ, I was amazed at how God takes a bad situation and turns it into something good,” Ladun said.
   
For more information, go to the resources section of www.thealabamabaptist.org.