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Asbury Park native Jerry Carter, 52, attended this weekend’s Jersey Shore Rescue Mission Coat Drive on Main Street, not to get a coat but to for a hot meal and the duffle bag filled with toiletries donated by partnering nonprofit Holiday Express.

“I live day by day,” Carter [at right] said. “This helps me and it means they are people doing good to me.”

Carter is homeless and has been sleeping in a nook he created along the beach. He said he does not know what he will do when the weather drops below freezing because there is a long list of people waiting to get into the area shelters.

“I have plenty of coats and clothes in my little cubby hole on the beach,” he said. “I don’t get things unless I need it. The hygiene stuff is what I need.”

Located at 701 Memorial Drive, the Jersey Shore Rescue Mission’s [JSRM] offerings Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. were as varied as their services.

Thousands of coats were collected for the annual event that included Holiday Express’ hot Thanksgiving meal, Tim McLoone’s band performance, and the candy and duffle bag distribution.

“We have about a 100 volunteers who will work throughout the day,” said event organizer Debbie Hammond of JSRM. “ We are giving away not only coats but gloves, hats and scarfs because we want to make sure everyone is ready for winter.”

An offshoot of Market Street Mission of  Morristown, established in 1990, JSRM has been in existence locally since 2006. The winter ready distribution has always been coupled with a hot meal, now administered by Holiday Express.

“This is the second year doing this with Holiday Express, which makes it a really fun event,” Executive Director Dave Scott [at right in yellow] said. “There’s a real need down here and we are trying to use that need to connect with the community.”

Aside from serving a hot meal every day at 6 p.m., JSRM offers Shelter and its Life Change program, a faith based work therapy program associated with anonymous drug and alcohol support groups.

“A man can stay for seven to 10 days in the shelter while the mission helps them figure out what the problem is and helps them connect,” Scott said. “Life change is mostly for people who have a problem with addiction, although that is not a requirement. It’s a phased program where they do assessment, therapy, and classroom instruction before they transition out. At the end of the program there is a four month period where they look for work and housing and we really help them out with that.”

Men participating in the Life Change program will spend the better part of a year with the mission.

Prevention, the chapel, one-on-one and group counseling are a part of the prgram, said participant Eric Barnes, 52, a Plainfield native who serves as the mission’s cook.

“We stay here for about 60 days before we continue onto the Market Street Mission to finish our journey,” Barnes [at right] said.

Barnes prepares meals for an average 40 people as well as the 10 Life Change program clients. This week he will transition to the Market Street Mission, where he will spend 7 to 9 months getting back on his feet, he said.

“I can’t go with the second chance but I can go with another chance because they done gave me chance, after chance, after chance,” Barnes said. “So now, I’m applying the principles and spirituality. Instead of just reading and forgetting about it, I’m internalizing the teachings.”

Barnes said he was 39 years old when he tried heroin for the first time.

“I was at a party and that’s what happened,” he said. “It helped me suppress a lot feelings, like I lost my mother’s mother in ‘92, then I lost my mother the following year and then my father in ‘97. I was down in prison when all this happened so I never had any closure to tell them that I love them. I’m working on some issues.”

Barnes said aside from the support he gets from the mission and his sponsor, he relies on his sister for guidance, who has 21 years of sobriety under her belt.

“I’m learning and applying,” he said. “I get all my spiritual healing and guidance from my sister as far as the steps. I listen to what she says.”

Next door to the mission office is its thrift store, which offers gently used clothing, furniture and household items. Any proceeds are distributed in support of the mission’s programs, Scott said.

Peggy Walsh [at right in pink], who has helped run the shop since 2007, said an average of 40 people a day walk through the store’s doors.

“Half the clothes are newly tagged,” she said. “They put out the best clothes, many are designer items that go from $90 to $100 and I’ll charge $10 to $20.”

Walsh, who has a discerning eye for those who are truly in need, has been known to give someone a couch or a bedroom set gratis. In one case, she furnished a recently out of work mail carrier’s new apartment to she and her two children get back on their feet.

“The one’s in need don’t ever ask,” Walsh said. “It’s the one’s that have it that will take $20 dresses and want a huge discount but I’ve been here a long time. I know our patrons personally and their needs.”

But the thrift store relies solely on donations and sales to keep a float.

“It does balance out because I do have to make money to keep the place going, and yet at the same time help the community,” Walsh said. “I tell people who give me a $100 bill and don’t want to pay $20 for an item that costs $200 that this is a mission – nobody makes money.”

The Jersey Shore Rescue Mission entire catalog of programs, including a used car sales component, relies solely on private donations.

“We do not have any government funding,” Scott said. “We have had a wonderful reception in terms of trying to meet the community’s needs.”

To learn more about Jersey Shore Rescue Mission, call 732-988-0242 or visit their website here.

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