Breaking Cycles. Renewing Hope. Restoring Lives.

In 1949, John and Tress Van Diest launched Portland Rescue Mission with a heart to bring God’s love and grace to Portland’s most vulnerable community. From its earliest days, PRM has been a place of hope and healing, walking alongside individuals struggling with hunger, homelessness, and addiction on their path to a restored life.

In 1951, PRM obtained its present shelter building at 111 W. Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon's Old Town. This shelter is known to many in the local community as the Burnside Shelter.

In 1994, as the Old Town area of Portland became too dangerous for women, PRM opened its Shepherd’s Door location on the east side of Portland. Today, Shepherd’s Door hosts PRM’s New Life Ministry for Women, a comprehensive, full-service one-year addiction recovery center for women and mothers with children.

In 1999, Portland Rescue Mission launched Drive Away Hunger to provide vocational automotive and customer service skills to our recovery program participants. Every Drive Away Hunger car donated or purchased by the community provides shelter, recovery, and trauma support to hurting people in our neighborhoods.

In 2003, PRM expanded Shepherd’s Door by opening The Children’s Center. This service helps children of mothers in the program receive trauma-informed care while experiencing the joy of being a kid again.

In 2012, PRM launched the Connect Program, a stabilization service that provides men with a supportive community and the resources to develop job-readiness skills and achieve personal goals to move away from street life. The Connect Program is hosted at PRM’s shelter at 111 W. Burnside Street, Portland, Oregon.

In 2013, PRM’s New Life Ministry for Men moved from 111 W. Burnside Street to its new home at The Harbor in East Portland.

In 2015, PRM launched Mission BBQ, which became Fresh Start Catering and BBQ in 2021, as a culinary and vocational training program. Recovery participants build job skills through hands-on training with selected ingredients, separate from donated food used in other programs.

In 2020, at the height of the pandemic, PRM launched its Mobile Outreach Ministry. Hope Vans travel throughout the city, reaching encampments to deliver food, connect people with services, and offer opportunities to move off the streets.

Today, Portland Rescue Mission remains committed to the same mission the Van Diest family started in 1949: transforming the lives of neighbors in need who are experiencing homelessness and addiction by sharing the Word of God and demonstrating the love of Christ.

While urgent needs persist in Portland’s core, homelessness and addiction now reach beyond downtown. We believe PRM is specially called and equipped to respond! Our Mobile Outreach Ministry and Hope Vans are currently piloting an expansion into underserved neighborhoods, including the I-205 corridor.

There is much more for us to do. The needs are great, and we are ready to move!