After facing a 45% reduction in funding, their ability to provide services to Jacksonville’s most vulnerable population had been severely impacted.
Due to the cuts and an ever increasing number of people seeking daily meals and training courses, the Mission has been forced to reduce services from seven days per week to just five days.
Ju'Coby Pittman, president of The Clara White Mission, says the reduction in funds came from a lack of city and state funding. They also didn't receive as much grant money as they’d hoped.
Pittman says if they don’t raise $425,000 by August 30, their services may be cut down even further to three days. They may also need to cut some of their staff.
The organization reportedly just found out about this dire lack of funds last Friday. Pittman, who's been with the organization for 26 years, says they haven’t been in a position nearly this bad in a decade.
For the 2019 to 2020 budget year, the Mission is projected to serve 125,000 meals. Their new budget will reportedly only support about half of that, about 51%.
Pittman says the mission doesn’t just support homeless and low-income people, but also the veterans who rely on these services.
"They depend on us," Pittman said. "My staff, they work from paycheck to paycheck and they serve other people in the community. If you are listening, we want to pierce your heart to help us."
While at the Mission, we talked to a woman named Selena Williams. Williams says she regularly eats meals there, and we asked her what she would do if the services were reduced.
"Wow, I'm not from Jacksonville, but I live here," Williams said, shaking her head. "I don't know... I just don't know."
Pittman says the lack of services could create a domino effect downtown that she doesn’t want to see.
"You talk about crime, I don't want my clients out there committing crimes because the couldn't get a meal," Pittman said. "That's not acceptable."
Pittman says the Jaguars Foundation has already committed to giving a $75,000 gift, and that their own board members are putting in whatever money they can. The organization is asking the public if they could give anything to contribute, too.
The Mission is initiating a “Call-to-Action Donation Challenge” Campaign, asking the community to help save the meals and operations of its programs.
If you would like to donate or learn more about their impact in the community, click here.
Again, their deadline is Aug 30.