About Us

Gary Williamson, the Executive Director, and his wife, Marilyn founded this Mission on November 1, 1994, and they oversee the day-to-day operation.

The Main Street Mission, Inc. is governed by our board of directors, and it consists of eleven Christians from several denominations. The board meets once a month to review income/expenses and make decisions concerning policy change and/or major expenses.

All of our volunteers are from the local community. Every Monday a different church works at the Mission for the day. We have the most wonderful volunteers that any place could have. Our volunteers range in age from 17 to 85. This is such a blessing that words cannot express how much we love and appreciate them. Some volunteers donate 50 or more hours a week to the Mission.

Background:

In the early part of July, 1994, Marilyn had a vision about opening a soup kitchen. Gary said he didn’t hear her tell him about her vision, so God gave the same vision to him the first of August, and the vision became a reality November 1, 1994.

For over 10 years The Main Street Mission, Inc. (MSMI) has been the only facility feeding meals to the hungry in Pope, Yell, and Johnson counties of Arkansas. We provide hot meals 7 days a week and short-term shelter for homeless men. We are one of the prime locations that provide food boxes to people unable to care for themselves because of financial problems. Currently, our facilities consist of a 3300 square-foot building and a 19600 square-foot warehouse. We receive gifts of clothing, household items, and personal items for distribution to persons in financial need at no charge to them. We offer hope, friendship, encouragement, and Christian love to the hungry, homeless, and poor. We receive large gifts of all types of food and distribute it, not only to the hungry in the River Valley, but also to about 60 other non-profit organizations at no charge.

CURRENT: (12/31/05)

January 1, 1994 to December 31, 2005 MSMI had provided 2,814,154 meals including takeout, Kid Kare and food boxes. This averages 719 meals per day for the past 11 years. Every summer Kid Kare lunches are made and given to children Monday - Friday outside of the Mission.

This last summer we made about 125 to 160 lunches Monday - Friday for Kid Kare.
The warehouse has help over 1986 families this year so far. We can only guess at how many tons of clothing, household items, and personal items we have distributed to the needy.

In 2004:

Over all 1,134 Children received Christmas from The Main Street Mission Christmas Programs.

The Christmas Wish program was a success thanks to The Courier news paper. The community responded greatly adopting families.

Christmas for Foster Children was also a great success. Gift Certificate’s for the children was raised by Radio announcements and phone calls to Churches, Businesses and Individuals. The children's case workers from D.H.S. were able to buy each foster child individual toys.

The 2004 annual Bikers toy run was heart warming to seeing how many toys they gave. These children would not of had much of a Christmas. Many thanks to many groups of Bikers who made this possible every year.

We operate solely on donations from individuals, churches, businesses and organizations. The Mission has never sought nor received funds from the government or the United Way.

BMission Board of Directors:

Gary & Marilyn Williamson - Directors

Dr. Travis Arterbury - Fellowship of Christians

Greg Standridge - First Baptist Church

Melissa Krueger - Russellville Christian Center

Rhonda McBride

Bonnie Haines

Jeff Shields - The Journey

Dan & Mary Osolin - Lighthouse Christian Center

Cheryl Scott - First Assembly of God Russellville

Dr. Karl Sandberg - Board Advisor

Pam Duvall - Public Relations