• The east wall of the Mission’s downtown location crumbled after the main rafter supporting the roof jostled east to west during the March 18 earthquake.

  • The same moving rafter caused damage to the Mission’s front-facing west side as well. Crews worked to install stabilizing beams.

  • Those beams went up the west front wall, tying in with supporting beams and floor joists.

  • During the process of strengthening our east and west walls there were concerns that the roof would weaken and fall. These steel beams were put in place to ensure the roof would not collapse.

  • The repaired and refortified east wall of the downtown Rescue Mission of Salt Lake.

  • The repaired and refortified west wall of the downtown Rescue Mission of Salt Lake.

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We’re Happy to be Home

The Rescue Mission’s downtown Salt Lake headquarters is supported by 120-year-old wooden beams.

Turns out, those beams were a godsend during the March 18 earthquake that hit Salt Lake City because they were able to sway with the rolling earth. That said, portions of the outside masonry crumbled and an engineer’s report determined that structural repairs were needed.

We praise God that Makers Line, Q Factor, and many of you (our generous Mission supporters and volunteers) provided the time, labor, equipment, and funds needed to make the Mission habitable again. We are happy to report that members of the New Life Program and some of our homeless friends  we able to move back into the Mission on May 28, coming back home from the former Marv Jensen Recreation Center that city and county leaders had arranged as temporary housing while the repairs happened.

During those 72 days we were displaced, Makers Line and their subcontractors were working hard. They buttressed the roof intact while damaged bricks where removed, re-bar installed, and then forms put in place and concrete injected between the forms. They created a concrete wall in the middle of a masonry wall, both serving as a replacement and reinforcement to the east side of the building.

On the Mission’s west side, they created an exoskeleton of “strongbacks” and connected the them to the wood support beams in the Mission as well as to floor joists to protect the front facade.

We cannot thank Makers Line, Q Factor, and our generous donors enough. God’s working through His people has made the Mission habitable again. With our New Life Program members and key homeless guests back downtown, we are creating appropriate social distancing protocols and sprucing up the Rescue Mission so we can fully reopen all our services.

Thank you again to every who has made this reopening possible during these especially difficult situations we have encountered in the Spring of 2020!