If you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness or addiction, we can help. To learn more about our emergency and recovery services, please call the campus closest to you.
If you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness or addiction, we can help. To learn more about our emergency and recovery services, please call the campus closest to you.
HOMELESS SERVICES & ADDICTION RECOVERY PROGRAM
Help us make a difference today. Join our fight against hunger, homelessness, and addiction in Pensacola & Mobile.
Individuals like you are helping us make a difference every day. There are countless ways that you can help the Mission and your community.
Volunteering is more than simply donating time—it’s investing into the lives of others to make our community a better place to live for everyone!
We believe that caring for the poor and homeless is not an option—it is a mandate from the Lord. We work hard to address each person’s unique needs through personal, local solutions.
No one dreams of being homeless. Unfortunately, due to financial pressures, job loss, mental illness, addictions, and a myriad of other life challenges, this nightmare becomes a reality for many. That’s why Waterfront Rescue Mission was founded — to offer hope, healing, and a brighter future for our community in need.
No one plans to become an addict. About 20 million Americans battle a substance use disorder, and Waterfront has been helping men find hope and healing since 1949, now with a more focused and deliberate approach than ever before.
The staff and volunteers at the Mission have learned, from 72+ years of hands-on experience, that the people seeking Mission services really aren’t all that different from the rest of us. They have families, responsibilities, hopes and dreams and are determined to do whatever is necessary to experience positive and lasting change in their lives.
Our goal is to help men become Overcomers and live empowered to be self-sufficient, productive citizens. Our outcomes-driven, accountable approach has helped 60,000+ individuals get the life-changing help they need, since 1949. We start by helping each person assess his situation and then craft a plan that leads to successful outcomes.
Waterfront Rescue Mission helps people address the challenges of life-dominating issues. Healing and restoration are the goals of our Bible-based program that helps develop self-sufficient, productive members of our community.
Statistics based on 2022 results
unduplicated individuals served
meals served
life skills & job readiness classes
men employed
individuals obtained housing
professions of faith
Michael was a hardcore crack cocaine addict. But he decided he wanted a different life. That’s when he came to Waterfront. He completed the Recovery Program in 1995 and has been living clean and sober ever since! In fact, he’s a thriving business owner who each year helps many men face — and deal with — their own life-dominating issues. He often mentors men going through the LifeBuilder Recovery Program.
Together, we are making our community a better place to work and live — one restored life at a time! Make an investment into our community by investing into the lives of others.
For every dollar given, 83 cents goes directly to program services to help the homeless & addicted. Only 17 cents of every dollar is used for administration and fundraising.
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Waterfront Rescue Mission is a
501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Pensacola, FL Campus
348 West Herman St
Pensacola, FL 32505
(850) 478-4027
Mailing Address
P.O.Box 870
Pensacola, FL 32591
Mobile, AL Campus
279A North Washington Ave
Mobile, AL 36603
(251) 433-1847
Mailing Address
P.O. Box 1095
Mobile, AL 36633
Website by Smarter Web, a division of Digital Boardwalk.
Meet Bobby.
Bobby was living homeless when he was struck by a car while walking along the roadway. He sustained serious injuries. It ended up being his wake-up call.
“After the hospital put my body back together, they sent me to Waterfront,” he said, following a five-day hospital stay. During his weeks-long stay in Waterfront’s Recuperation Dorm – equipped with 10 medical-grade beds for homeless men to recover from illness and injury – Bobby realized he needed more than physical recovery. Bobby, who’d struggled with alcoholism most of his life, needed mental, spiritual, and addiction recovery.
Not long before the accident, Bobby’s wife had died after an illness. “When my wife died, I fell deeper into my addiction,” he said, remembering the man he was before his life was transformed during his time at Waterfront.
“I know God put me at Waterfront, because I had prayed for help,” he said.
Meet Bobby.
Bobby was living homeless when he was struck by a car while walking along the roadway. He sustained serious injuries. It ended up being his wake-up call.
“After the hospital put my body back together, they sent me to Waterfront,” he said, following a five-day hospital stay. During his weeks-long stay in Waterfront’s Recuperation Dorm – equipped with 10 medical-grade beds for homeless men to recover from illness and injury – Bobby realized he needed more than physical recovery. Bobby, who’d struggled with alcoholism most of his life, needed mental, spiritual, and addiction recovery.
Not long before the accident, Bobby’s wife had died after an illness. “When my wife died, I fell deeper into my addiction,” he said, remembering the man he was before his life was transformed during his time at Waterfront.
“I know God put me at Waterfront, because I had prayed for help,” he said.
How exactly did his life change?
Bobby completed Waterfront’s Recovery Program, is active at a local church, and landed a good job.
Like many others whose lives are radically changed at Waterfront, Bobby wasn’t sure he was hirable. But Waterfront knew he’d make a remarkable employee, and they were right. Bobby was hired by Waterfront’s Recycle & Distribution Center, helping prepare donated items to be recycled or sold in Waterfront Thrift Stores. Hiring its own clients helps the men build marketable skills as they strengthen their resumes to show future employers that they’re reliable and hard-working, which is precisely Bobby’s goal.
Bobby had his driver’s license restored, but owning his own car had been only a dream. Waterfront staff helped Bobby craft a budget, and after several months of saving, Bobby was able to pay cash for a vehicle. He can now transport himself to and from work and to other important appointments.
How exactly did his life change?
Bobby completed Waterfront’s Recovery Program, is active at a local church, and landed a good job.
Like many others whose lives are radically changed at Waterfront, Bobby wasn’t sure he was hirable. But Waterfront knew he’d make a remarkable employee, and they were right. Bobby was hired by Waterfront’s Recycle & Distribution Center, helping prepare donated items to be recycled or sold in Waterfront Thrift Stores. Hiring its own clients helps the men build marketable skills as they strengthen their resumes to show future employers that they’re reliable and hard-working, which is precisely Bobby’s goal.
Bobby had his driver’s license restored, but owning his own car had been only a dream. Waterfront staff helped Bobby craft a budget, and after several months of saving, Bobby was able to pay cash for a vehicle. He can now transport himself to and from work and to other important appointments.
His next goal? Saving for a place of his own. And if anyone knows that goals are attainable, it’s Bobby! In the meantime, he is living in Waterfront’s transitional house.
Bobby continues learning the skills needed to be a self-sufficient, productive citizen . . . without substance abuse. Men learn life skills in the LifeBuilder Recovery Program, such as anger management, teamwork, sober living, communication, money management, goal setting, and decision making.
“I have everything to look forward to because of the love, care, and compassion that Waterfront Rescue Mission has for those who are lost in this world,” he said. “I am living proof.”
Waterfront is a place of second chances for men like Bobby.
He will return to his community a tax-paying, responsible man with a job and a future he can be proud of.
The sign over the Waterfront check-in desk reads, “If you don’t have a friend in the world, you’ll find one here.” Bobby experienced that friendship. He didn’t face judgment when he entered our doors, but compassionate care, coupled with accountability and expectations. That’s the model of Waterfront services… we serve you so that you can also help yourself through goal-setting and diligent effort.
Tony loved to ride his bike. He rode to and from his job, putting in long hours every day as a custodian at a Pensacola theater. He was careful, but one day, Tony was nearly killed.
“I was hit in the morning, and then I was hit again that night,” he recalls. “I lost my right leg and my neck was broken in two places. I wound up in the hospital and I lost my job, so I was really just at the mercy of the Lord.”
A chaplain visited Tony in the hospital and told him that Waterfront had a place for him. Once he completed respite care, Tony moved in and began the difficult process of rebuilding his life.
“I needed help,” Tony says plainly. “I’m just grateful that I could come here and find food, shelter, clothing and financial help all in one place. The Mission has been a really big help to me. I’m thankful God opened the door for me to come, because if I hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have made it.”
Slowly, Tony recovered. He moved from a sling to a wheelchair to a prosthetic. His neck brace came off, and he began to regain some mobility. Little by little, his heart began to heal as well, and Tony reclaimed the faith of his youth.
“I grew up in the Word. I know God says that He will never leave you or forsake you, and I find that to be very true. I’ve always believed that no matter what you’re going through, Christ will be there with you. I should have been a goner, but the Lord kept me for a purpose.
“Without Christ, you aren’t going to make it,” he says. “The older you get, the wiser you’re supposed to get, and I have learned my lesson. I know for a fact where my help comes from!”
Through the programs at the Mission, Tony was able to save some money, and today, he has an apartment of his own. He’s back at work, and he has also returned to something else he loves.
“I’m getting my license restored, but I still ride my bike!” he laughs. “It just didn’t seem right for me to say I’ll never do it again. God has really blessed me.”