Walking into the Muncie Mission, guests are greeted by groups of men amiably chatting with one another at the front desk. All of the men know one another and they know each other's stories. These are some of the men the Walk a Mile in My Shoes event will be benefitting on Saturday.
"The Mission is important to the community," resident and employee George Jones said.
After a fire last July 4, which destroyed much of the building and forced the residents to live in a wing of the connecting building, the community came together to help the men. Construction workers and police officers pitched in when rebuilding the Mission and the Muncie community supplied meals, Jones said. Local barbers came in to volunteer their time to the Mission Tuesday, which is a monthly occurrence.
"Sometimes they just need someone to listen to them," Jill Keever of Head to Toes, a hair salon in Muncie, said.
When asked what kept her and fellow barber Les Niccum coming in every month, they replied "The Lord."
Jones has been a resident of the Muncie Mission for 11 months, and he has received help from the Mission he wasn't able to obtain at other facilities. Not only has the Mission put a roof over his head, but it has also helped Jones receive rehabilitation with his drug and alcohol problems.
After graduating from Ball State with a bachelor's degree in Human Science in 1999, Jones was "doing great" until three years ago when he said he "mixed with the wrong group."
Having spent most of his time doing drugs and drinking, Jones checked into multiple rehabilitation centers, which didn't help.
Then Jones went to the Muncie Mission and has been in the rehab program. He now has three months left.
The Mission turned Jones's life around, he said. He got the help needed to end his addictions to drugs and alcohol, started working at the Mission and ended up with some new friends.
"We're like a family," Jones said of the other residents.
After the fire, which Jones discovered and sounded the alarm for, the men ended up in tight quarters with one another.
"We got to know each other, trust each other, depend on each other," he said. "We care an awful lot about each other. When one of us leaves, it brings a tear to our eye."
Thomas Hogan, a new resident at the Muncie Mission, agreed with Jones.
"[The men] have something to lean on... to get through a tough time," he said. "It's more of a recovery than a rescue. It gives people hope, an opportunity to renew your life."
Hogan acknowledges a large generation gap between the men, but that didn't stop them from becoming friends.
"There's a difference and you respect that," he said.
The choice to go to the Muncie Mission wasn't an easy one for Jones, and what he found was not what he expected.
"I tried not to come here," he said. His expectation of the Mission was to find "drunks and hobos," and Hogan expected thieves.
"I didn't expect to touch base [with the other residents]," Hogan said. "When you hit all these bumps you don't know how to talk to anyone anymore.You can get a mentor here."
The Muncie Mission supplies rooms, food and in some cases jobs to the residents. Jones works at the front desk from 3 to 11 p.m., checking residents in and out of the building. The work helps pay for room and board and residents also get a small salary every two weeks.
Residents have been there for various lengths of time. Some stay for a week or two, a month and others stay years.
"Wild" Billy Johnson has been at the Mission for over 30 years, according to another Mission resident.
The Muncie Mission has been a place where residents can feel at home.
"I love it here," Johnson said. "If we didn't have God, we wouldn't have anything."
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