City Gate, a charity that has provided food and emotional support to the homeless in downtown Spokane for nearly 40 years, will be closed down in Christmas numbers after several of its leaders, including its marquee pastor John Mlinko, left without warning. Newspapers reported that the museum suddenly closed a day earlier. remaining officers.
Unless like-minded organizations have the desire and capacity to replace them, nonprofits may be doomed.
Board member Bob May said he believes “God will make the best of this situation,” but with no clear continuity plan and uncertain finances, the number of people remaining with the organization is limited. acknowledged that “our chances of continuing are in the worst possible situation.”
City Gate was founded 36 years ago by Mlinko and several local pastors who wanted to establish a ministry focused on meeting the physical and emotional needs of downtown Spokane’s homeless population . From its First Avenue location to the Otis Hotel location to its most recent location at Madison Street and Second Avenue, the church has a social drop-in center, hot meals, food bank, clothing bank, and life skills businesses. It has evolved into In addition to social services, affordable housing with food banks and emergency shelters will also be provided.
As the department grew, then-director Ruth Pearson donated more than $1 million to purchase and renovate the building at 170 S. Madison St.
May and other executives said they noticed on Dec. 22 that the front door of the food bank was locked and the keys were left on the counter without warning that Mlinko and his staff had abandoned the organization. Ta. The organization’s first public announcement that it was closing was posted on its Facebook page on Dec. 26, with few other details.
Calls and emails to Citygate went unanswered. The Spokesman-Review located Mr. Mlinko’s personal cell phone number and contacted him on January 2nd, but Mr. Mlinko was on vacation and unavailable for an interview, and requested to speak on January 7th. After that, he stopped responding to calls. And the text.
May gave his first interview on Saturday, due to a renewed focus on fiscal oversight and managing negative spillovers from facilities to surrounding communities, which city officials said needed to be better addressed. He claimed the problem started this year. People camping near the building.
Mayor Lisa Brown and officials in her administration confirmed that the city had been in discussions with City Gate regarding repeated nuisance and code enforcement complaints.
Prime Minister Theresa May said her leadership team was used to operating without external accountability and quickly collapsed under basic oversight.
“When I joined the board over a year ago, there were conflicts with neighbors and the mayor had just taken office and was meeting to resolve those issues,” May said. .
During these meetings, Mr. May and other board members learned about incidents surrounding the building that Mr. Mlinko and his son Eric, who was the office manager at The City Gate, had not disclosed. For example, May said someone poured gasoline on a pile next to the building and set it on fire, but May heard that from city officials, not CityGate leadership.
Mr. Mlinko preferred to address the misconduct himself rather than discuss the incident with the board, May said. In one case, Mlinko reportedly closed the doors of City Gate for two days in response to a dispute.
“None of us had any problems,” May said. “One of my favorite things about the way we do business is that we hold our employees to standards and try to instill personal responsibility.
“But then, after we closed for two days, he decided to close for another two weeks. And I had a problem with that, because we all had to do it because of a few bad people.” Because it would be punishing,” May said.
However, this type of punishment was not new. In a 2022 profile of The City Gate, Mlinko told The Spokesman-Review that he just recently did just that.
Two years ago, “when there was a fight or an argument, we closed the cafeteria for two weeks,” Murinko said.
In the same article, he also mentioned that he was working on “The City Gate” for a long time.
“Why should I go elsewhere?” he asked. “I’m not discouraged, but sometimes my heart is broken.”
John Thomas and Rhett Zorn, the two new residents above the apartment complex, have lived in the area for years, often on the street, and have seen trash, drug use and He acknowledged that fights and other problems were widespread. Opinions differ on whether Mr. Mlinko did enough to stop these problems, with Mr. Zorn questioning why Mr. Mlinko did not face pressure sooner and Mr. Thomas saying, He was saddened that “good people” were forced out after decades of feeding the hungry.
Mr. May and other board members insist that they seek regular reports from leadership on issues in and around the facility, and that Mr. May said they would like to know how the Mrinkos are addressing these issues. “Pastor John and Eric, they just flipped out,” May said.
“They said, ‘That’s none of your business, your job is to raise money, I’m not going to be micromanaged,'” May said. “And literally, we were standing in the middle of the dining area, which is also a church, and I was talking to the pastor and he was yelling at me. And I said to him, ‘You’re in the church. I had to say, “I’m a pastor.” Why are you behaving like this? ”
Theresa May said board chairman William Davis had also been unresponsive to additional financial oversight. He could not be reached for this story.
Davis has contributed thousands of dollars of his own money to help keep the organization healthy, but he has health issues and plans to resign, leaving him unable to support the department and raising concerns about his next steps. May said the number has increased. The board was seeking to increase its reliance on external donations, but felt that this would require better oversight of whether funds were being used efficiently.
Prime Minister Theresa May said Mr Davies resigned days before Citygate was abruptly shut down.
May and other board members said reforms were needed as the organization entered a new phase, but they understood tensions were rising and had until after the holidays to resolve these issues. I was thinking of waiting.
“Then, of course, we found out the door was closed and the keys were on the counter, and we decided not everyone was going to come to work,” May said.
Prime Minister Theresa May said the lack of financial transparency was so severe that she did not know exactly how many employees were being paid by City Gate, or even their salaries or workloads. He said he received three resignation letters, including from John Mlinko and two paid employees, but nothing from Eric or at least two other paid employees.
“I spoke to (the latter two) and it was actually not their choice to leave,” May said. “The people who need these jobs are the ones who live in apartments upstairs and can’t pay the rent, right? They’re choosing to quit this activity that has supported them for 10 years. I would never do that.”
May and the rest of the group, called Second Harvest, helped supply food banks, canceled upcoming deliveries and distributed what was already in the pantry to tenants upstairs and other organizations and people.
May said there are now only two remaining directors, including John Kittel and Gail Steeves. The companies have established advisory committees, including former directors, that will meet this week to discuss next steps.
It’s not clear what these steps mean. May said the only person who understood how the organization worked was gone.
“There was no record, nothing,” May said.
At the time of his donation, Mr Pearson asked that the building be given to a similar Christian charity in the event The City Gate disbanded, but initial attempts to find a successor failed, May said. said.
Shalom Ministries, the only other soup kitchen of its kind in downtown Spokane, had been considered but didn’t think the space would be appropriate for the size of its operation, Shalom said. said Barbara Caviezel, director of operations.
The loss of CityGate services will be a huge blow to the city’s homeless population, Caviezel added.
Shalom does not serve meals every day, and many of its patrons also went to City Gate to supplement their meals.
“There is such a need in our city, and doors continue to slam shut on homeless people, and they feel it,” she added.
Prime Minister Theresa May’s biggest concern is what will happen to the apartments above the ministry.
“I don’t have any information about rent or anything like that,” he said. “We don’t know if the building is self-sustaining… As long as the building is self-sustaining, we don’t have to be so desperate to find a solution to this problem.”
Whatever happens, Prime Minister Theresa May said City Gate’s mission will continue and she is determined to ensure the building is not sold to a developer.
Prime Minister Theresa May said: “The lack of any notice has left us in the worst possible situation to proceed.” “But we are unashamed believers and God will make the best of this.”
Thomas and his wife had just moved into the apartment above him a few weeks ago, shortly before Mrinko moved out, and had spent more than two years frequently sleeping outside and volunteering in the kitchen. Ta. Thomas said he hopes the remaining members of the unit won’t be evacuated, but even if they were, he doubted it would be much different than having to travel before dawn every morning. I thought about it.
“We’re always afraid of it. Just like anywhere else, you always have to be on your toes when setting up camp,” he said. “Expect the worst and hope for the best.”
