David Curry, Tacoma Rescue Mission

It's one thing to love your job. It's another to love your job and know it's making a difference in the world. David Curry, Chief Executive Officer of the Tacoma Rescue Mission, not only carries an impressive list of experiences working with social justice, but he is also passionate about the work that the Rescue Mission is doing in Pierce County. The Tacoma native loves being able to work with a non-profit organization that is tangibly making a difference in the lives of the homeless.

David began his journey in the field of social justice and fighting against poverty when he was in college. He started out intending to be a youth pastor but quickly figured out that was not the right fit for his skills and passion. As a result, he set out to do charity work in third world countries—primarily Peru—thanks to some strategic networking. As David worked with the poor and oppressed in several third world countries, he developed a passion for caring for the poor and forgotten. “[I realized] God sees everyone the same [whether they are] poor, homeless…” says David. His overseas work brought him to the recognition that social justice work was the perfect match for his specific set of skills and gifts. Moving back to Tacoma, he served on the board at Tacoma Rescue Mission for several years, and he began directing the organization in 2005. David is now at a place in his life where he knows that his passion, personality, and unique set of skills absolutely fit his position at Tacoma Rescue Mission.

As the Chief Executive Officer at Tacoma Rescue Mission, much of David Curry’s work deals with managing programs, meeting with leadership personnel, and connecting the functions of the mission with the big-picture vision. In general, he is responsible for overseeing all of the functions, communication, and operations of the mission. During a typical day at work, David will normally meet with the leaders running the Rescue Mission’s different programs to work out strategies and plans for how to raise and spend money in order to better help the people served.

Though David’s job largely requires a lot of administration and communication with outside groups, he manages to incorporate the other side of the organization’s work into his life as well—the side that sees the direct impact of changed lives. David teaches various classes in several of the Rescue Mission programs. He also makes sure to set aside time to make contact with the people that the Rescue Mission is helping, whether that is by handing out food or meeting people in the substance abuse recovery program.  David finds that doing hands-on work with the people directly impacted by Tacoma Rescue Mission is the most rewarding part of his job. “You just gotta do it,” he says.

Motivating David every day are the stories of the people whose lives have changed as a result of his efforts.  

Projects get him excited, projects like the brand new homeless shelter at the Rescue Mission’s Adams Street Family Campus. This new campus will soon provide 200 beds, rooms for 36 families to sleep, and the capacity to feed 100 people every day in a beautiful ski-lodge-esque building providing emergency and transitional housing. These sorts of projects “makes you want to get up and go to work,” says David.

As hopeful and inspiring as the work is at the Rescue Mission, the world of non-profits does not go without its challenges. A fundamental aspect of the job demands that the leadership at the Rescue Mission find the resources to allow them to continue helping people and then to spend those resources in an effective way. David explained that it is particularly difficult for non-profit organizations to raise money and maximize those funds because they are not selling a widget but providing a service. He says, “We have to trust people who have the resources but who are never going to use our services to understand what we’re doing and want to be a part of it.”

The Rescue Mission puts forth a compelling case for how effective they have been in helping to end homelessness in Pierce County. The Rescue Mission is full, if not in overflow, every day.  To get a bed, people can simply call the mission and get on the list. Though it may take up to three days to get a bed, they do everything they can to accommodate people who need help. Cots come out when the beds fill up. “We don’t want anybody sleeping out in the cold. We don’t want anybody in a dangerous situation,” David says.

Another large initiative of the mission involves programs combating substance abuse such as their six-month rehabilitation programs involving individualized support services for addicts. Every system at Tacoma Rescue Mission is designed to find people desperate to get out of homelessness and empower them to break out of that system.

David finds there to be a real need in the fight against poverty and homelessness. Organizations like the Tacoma Rescue Mission are committed not just to fighting homelessness but the systemic problems that perpetuate it. David believes that these types of non-profit orders need smart, motivated, savvy young adults who want to work just as hard at fighting homelessness and poverty as they would if they were working for a brokerage firm. Oftentimes, systems are set up to not truly solve the problem, either rewarding bad behavior or temporarily plugging the gap. David is hopeful, though. “Fortunately, I think a lot of the younger people [who are involved in social justice] today are more passionate than people who have been entrenched in justice work [for years].”

Social services or projects like the Tacoma Rescue Mission need more of these motivated and energetic people who want to help the poor in a way that solves these bigger, systemic problems. David Curry whole-heartedly believes the world of non-profit, social justice work is actively solving problems today: “Most of the problems in Pierce County are solvable. A couple thousand homeless people in Pierce County—that’s countable, that’s solvable.” Dedicated to the work that the Rescue Mission does, David Curry is not only a respectable and passionate leader, but he is also an inspiring character inviting others around him to join in a powerful and touching movement to help those in need.