from the director’s chair - Keith Heck
Pastor Keith Heck , Director of the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission
Dr. Edwin H. Friedman, a late family therapist and ordained Rabbi once said, “Leadership can be thought of as a capacity to define oneself to others in a way that clarifies and expands a vision of the future.” Many of our community leaders today find themselves in this capacity and lead us in the direction of forward movements in restoring faith and kindness in mankind. Keith Heck, director of the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission, is a wonderful example of a great leader and excellent role model.
Pastor Keith Heck has been the director of the Grants Pass Gospel Rescue Mission since July 15, 1997. He accepted the position after the death of Walter Fikso, the founder of the mission, in 1996. The Gospel Rescue Mission of Grants Pass was started in April of 1983 with the second hand store, now the Second Chance Thrift Store. Since it was established, the Gospel Rescue Mission has expanded to include a Men’s Center, the Fikso Family Center, the Community Recycling Center, and the Ray Allen Center for drug and alcohol abuse recovery. The largest number of residents live at the Men’s center on E street in Grants Pass, currently around forty-nine men. The Fikso Family Center houses twenty-six women and twenty-three children at this time and the Ray Allen Center for abuse recovery can provide for thirty residents. With so many programs and numerous citizens in need, an incredible amount of love and faith drives Keith Heck to direct such a foundation.
Pastor Heck is a man of God and with his strong faith and powerful guidance he shows compassion for people in need and offers far more than a residence. It takes much more than that and according to him, “Our community members in need require support rather than a place to live and a job. We need to teach them how to live, not just to exist.”
The Gospel Rescue Mission is not the only organization to benefit from Keith’s wonderful example. He has devoted many years and countless hours to bettering the lives of many community members in need. His service began in the United States Military in July of 1959, with an honorable discharge in 1963. In that same year he married his wife, Carol and had two children, later seven grandchildren. He studied at Western Bible College and has been a pastor since 1970. Pastor Heck has continued with service ever since and some of his more recent involvement includes a ten-year period as a volunteer board member with the Citizen Review Board, involvement with cases at the Department of Human Services, service as a board member for Pathways to Care Network, service as a board member and vice chairperson on the Siskiyou Community Health Center Board, Rotarian of Grants Pass Rotary Club, and many other local non-profit organizations.
In the last twelve months, the main goal for the Gospel Rescue Mission of Grants Pass has been raising funds for the new Men’s Center which will be located across the street from the Fikso Family Center on the corner of Foundry and G streets in Grants Pass. The way the mission operates requires the entire amount of money needed before the project begins. The estimated cost for the 23,000 square foot building is approximately $3.2 million. Due to many generous donations and money earned through the Second Chance Thrift Store and the Community Recycling Center, the Gospel Rescue Mission board has set aside fifty percent of the total cost. This is an amazing feat, considering the amount of funds and other materials required to run each center day-to-day. An average of 5600 meals served each month at the three facilities, the up-keep of the G.E.D. program, and various other organizations such as the Prescription Assistance Program, which offers assistance to people in need with life-threatening medical issues bring up many budgeting concerns. Such costs as these keeps Pastor Keith Heck and a Gospel Rescue Mission board of eight members very busy.
Pastor Heck never loses faith when faced with difficult budgeting, although he has said it is hard to plan to spend money that may or may not be there when it is required. The board budgets according to what is available and what they hope to receive in grants and donations. The goals for 2008 are focused on raising money for daily life for residents of these facilities and also raising the remaining required funds to build the much needed men’s facility. The space will house as many as eighty men, while only forty-nine are being housed at the current facility.
With so many people in need this Christmas Season, we all need to remember to give and help our neighbors in need. Members of the Guild Building are having a food drive for this Christmas season, all donations going to the Gospel Rescue Mission of Grants Pass. Please bring non-perishable items to the Guild Building at 1867 Williams Highway, Grants Pass. If you would like to contribute to the Gospel Rescue Mission, please call 476-0082, stop by 120 SE J. Street in Grants Pass, and visit www.gospelrescuemissiongp.org. To contribute to the Second Chance Thrift Store, go to the corner of 6th and J streets or call 479-9748. To support the Community Recycling Center, call Kevin Maloney at 955-1091 or go to 1010 SW Foundry Street in Grants Pass.
