Rockin’ Rescue Night Out 2021: A Fundraiser to Help People in Denver Who Need Housing

The O’Sullivan Law Firm has been a longtime supporter of an annual event that supports Denver Rescue Mission. It is called the Rockin’ Rescue Night Out (RRNO) and last year we raised over $23,000 in a pandemic! That money enabled over 15 families to find homes in Denver.

“I don’t know if the need has ever been greater,” says Scott O’Sullivan, whose friend Dan Davis founded the event in 1997. “We see people experiencing homelessness all around us every day and I know tensions are high. That is why we need to support Denver Rescue Mission as it does the hard, hard work of helping these people get off the streets, get their lives back together, and find housing.”

Deb Butte is the Director of Homelessness Resolution at Denver Rescue Mission. She explained that her team’s entire mission is to help people find housing, working with the especially difficult clients: those with no support systems, nowhere left to go.

She explained that there are three major steps in their efforts to help people get off the streets:

• Intake: “When someone comes to use our shelter services, we immediately talk to them about why this cannot be a long-term solution,” says Butte. “We find out how they got in this situation if they have family who can help. For example, if they have cousins in Mississippi, we help them call the cousins and we get them a bus ticket. If they have roommates who won’t live with them because they’re messy, we help them get a room divider. We help them think of options.”
• Peer Navigators: “Peer Navigators have been homeless and are now stably housed. They work in the shelters to help people see that it is possible. The navigators help people see beyond the situation they are currently in.”
• Case Managers: “Case Managers connect the homeless to the resources available to them and help close those loops. They may help find jobs, medical attention, education. Whatever the client needs to take steps to housing.”

Some shelter clients come in with a strong set of skills that will help them thrive. Denver Rescue Mission provides them with food, shelter and support as long as they continue to hold a job, work 32 or more hours each week, show their pay stubs, get into the shelter by curfew, and meet with their case manager. These people can be placed in homes or short-term housing relatively quickly.

However, Deb says that the Mission also takes the people with severe life challenges and those with physical and mental disabilities.

“For the truly disabled, the ones that go through a two-year investigative process with the Social Security Office to determine an inability to work, it takes another two to three years to get them housed,” she says. “These are the ones that others find hard to service because of their acute needs. These are the ones we keep until a housing unit becomes available, sometimes two to three winters later.”

She continues, “I’m so proud that we take the hard ones. But the hard ones have to work really hard for a long time to have a place to call home.”

Until they get housing, the Mission stands in the gap to ensure that no one goes hungry, every person has access to supportive services, and each client stays on the path toward housing. Between June 2020 and June 2021, the Mission provided 815,516 meals and 322,027 beds.

“Sometimes, our job is just to keep them engaged when it feels like everything is against them,” says Deb.

Rockin’ Rescue Night Out

This is where funds from the Rockin’ Rescue Night Out (RRNO) help most.

According to Blake Nauman, Philanthropy Manager with Denver Rescue Mission, the event’s impact is tremendous.

“We estimate that it takes about $1,500 to place a family in a home, provide rent assistance and get them on their feet,” says Blake. “The Rockin’ Rescue Night Out helped us to fully house 15 plus families last year. That is a huge impact, especially given the fact that last year’s event was completely virtual.”

Blake continues, “It’s very impressive how much impact this grassroots group has had on our community.”

Event Details

ROCKIN RESCUE NIGHT OUT 2021

So Many Roads Museum and Brewery: 918 W. 1st Ave, Denver, CO 80223

Thursday, December 9

Doors open at 6 pm https://event.gives/rrno14

No tickets required. Suggested donation at the door:

$20 = 1 Raffle Ticket

$30 = 5 Raffle Tickets

$40 = 10 Raffle Tickets

Raffle prizes will be announced soon.

“The Lord says that the poor will always be with us,” says event founder Dan Davis. “It is the duty of others to serve them, to share their plight, to lift them up if we can. I hope that people recognize the need all around them and step up to support this important cause.”

For sponsorship opportunities or other questions, contact Dan at: dcdavis02@hotmail.com