The Tribune

By ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

The Great Commission Ministries announced its 2025 goals are to continue its plans to “construct a 100-bed homeless shelter” and relaunch its social outreach programmes.

According to Bishop Walter Hanchell, president and founder of the Great Commission, the commission will launch a number of programmes that will touch on varying aspects, including mental health, parenting, and inner-city struggles, with the help of psychologist and executive director Dr Tamalia Gibson. He is calling on “devoted qualified volunteers and businesses” to help.

“We will target the family, which is the root cause of our many social problems,” Bishop Hanchell said. “We plan to visit every inner-city neighbourhood and hear the cries of the people. We will also conduct seminars on parenting and mental health conferences. Our executive director, Dr Tamalia Gibson, an experienced psychologist has organised a number of such events previously along with a Marriage Club. We are in need of devoted qualified volunteers and businesses that will underwrite the cost of such needed initiatives. We invite interested persons to stop in at our office or visit our website for further information.”

It is Bishop Hanchell’s goal that the homeless shelter, which he said would be named Hope City, will complete construction in 2025. The 100-bed shelter located on Carmichael Road will provide a secure home to “homeless persons off the street and to help a lot of mothers and their kids”.

“We have so many people coming in every day looking for somewhere to lay their heads,” Bishop Hanchell added. “People are being evicted out of their homes. A lot of Bahamians are going through hard times and so we need some more resources to be able to meet some of those needs that are out there. There’s so many. We have a lot of people coming to us who are working, but still, they have no money because all their money is being spent on bills, bank payments and so they have no resources and they run out of money. And we have to help them with the little that we have. But that’s how life is. It’s becoming harder in the country for the middle class and for the average person, life is becoming much more difficult and people are really struggling.

“So what we do, we try to ease the burden by helping as many people as we could, by sheltering as many persons as we could, in particular women and children. The country is really going through a hard time right now and we need to be our brother’s keepers. We need some more churches to help us. Great Commission Ministries are celebrating 37 years now taking care of the poor, assisting the poor, sheltering the homeless. And we do this because that’s what God called us to do. And we enjoy what we do. Helping people, making people smile, and just doing the best that we could to lift people up and giving them hope.

“So we need help and we hope that next year, God willing, we could complete construction on our building that we call Hope City, which is a state-of-the-art homeless shelter with 100 beds to take a lot of homeless persons off the street and to help a lot of mothers and their kids.”

Ending the year with a successful Christmas dinner featuring a giveaway thanks to their donors, Bishop Hanchell noted that “2024 is perhaps the most challenging year that Great Commission Ministries has experienced in recent years” regarding the need for food and shelter.

“Great Commission Ministries has had a busy Christmas season catering to the needs of the underprivileged and hurting in our community,” Bishop Hanchell said. “Our focus continues to be feeding, sheltering and caring. Our Christmas dinner was a success. Hundreds of delicious meals were served and we held a tent giveaway where furniture, clothing and household goods were distributed to many persons in need. We were blessed to get some assistance from our regular donors and a few new donors. There were some businesses we reached out to for assistance, who had exhausted their budgets for charity. We are extremely grateful to all of our faithful compassionate donors, staff and volunteers who have laboured so diligently over the past year to bring relief to the most vulnerable among us.

“As we look back over the year, 2024 is perhaps the most challenging year that Great Commission Ministries has experienced in recent years. We have seen a sharp increase in the number of clients coming to us... What our staff has observed is that the level of desperation among many of the people coming in for food and shelter has elevated. We see so much frustration and hopelessness. In addition to this, the level of frustration and lack seen has caused poor and needy Bahamians to become angry and impatient. The level of suffering in families that come to our Wulff Road headquarters is unprecedented. Most of these precious souls are unemployed, under-employed or may be unemployable because of mental health challenges or bad work ethics.

“Recently, we have seen people showing up at 8am to get a hot meal or a bag of grocery at 12 noon. Between 500 to 600 persons from around the island, in particular in the inner city, come to us daily seeking food primarily. Others, who find themselves homeless for various reasons, end up in one of our shelters. We have seen an increase in the working poor coming in for help because food costs have escalated in the past two years and rental units have also increased making it difficult for them to sustain their families. Furthermore, there is a shortage of affordable rental units and housing in New Providence at this time.”