Nonprofit Spotlight: Atlanta Mission

The city's largest and longest-running provider of homeless services, Atlanta Mission “transforms, through Christ, the lives of those facing homelessness.”

Established in 1938, Atlanta Mission provides overnight shelter, temporary shelter, employment support, recovery programming and transitional housing for more than 1,000 homeless men, women and children daily.

Its stated goal is to understand what brought each person to one of its four facilities so it can help find the appropriate next step towards healthy independence. Atlanta Mission works to find solutions to help end homelessness one life at a time.

Atlanta Mission operates four facilities in metro Atlanta and Northeast Georgia including the westside’s My Sister’s House on Howell Mill Road, along with The Shepherd’s Inn and Fuqua Hall, both located downtown. The Potter’s House is a 550-plus acre farm in Jefferson, Ga. that offers long-term residential recovery programming for men who are homeless due to addiction.

There are many opportunities for volunteers at Atlanta Mission and the best way to contact each facility is by telephone. Contact numbers and addresses are below and can also be found here.

Atlanta Mission does not provide economic assistance for bill payment, housing vouchers, food or clothing stipends, etc. Atlanta Mission offers food, clothing and shelter free of charge to those living in its facilities seeking shelter, or enrolled in its shelter and discipleship programs. Atlanta Mission also offers lower cost transitional housing at downtown’s Fuqua Hall for those eligible.

Atlanta Mission offers overnight shelter to men, women and mothers with children at our various facilities who are suffering from either temporary or long-term distress.

It encourages those whose situation requires longer term or more advanced care to enter into a Temporary Shelter program and commit to living at its facility for 14 days. During that time, Atlanta Mission offers case management where it sits down with the client and, together, work out a plan that can best solve their problems, ultimately ending their homelessness. Oftentimes, it is determined that the client’s needs may be best served through one of its programs. Atlanta Mission offers a Job Attainment program (designed to aid its residents in becoming employed), a pre-transitional housing program.

Here’s some important dates in the history of Atlanta Mission:

• 1938 — Atlanta Union Mission is established on Crew Street in southwest Atlanta as a soup kitchen to feed homeless men displaced by The Great Depression.
• 1947 — Atlanta Union Mission gains 501(c)(3) status and is inducted into the community as a nonprofit organization.
• 1967 — Atlanta Union Mission expands its services to offer recovery services to men facing homelessness. The Potters House, a 550-plus acre farm opens in Jefferson, Georgia offering long-term residential recovery programming for men who are homeless due to addiction.
• October 1969 — Atlanta Union Mission opens facility on Ponce de Leon, becoming first entity in the city and the United States to offer services to homeless women.
• 1982 – Atlanta Union Mission’s Women’s Services facility moves to current Howell Mill Road location. Originally named Dorcas’ House, it was renamed My Sister’s House.
• Late 1980s – Atlanta Union Mission moves its emergency shelter services for homeless men to current location on Ivan Allen Jr. Blvd.
• 1992 – Village Atlanta opens in College Park as a facility offering long-term residential recovery for homeless women with children
• 1996 – Fuqua Hall given to Atlanta Union Mission as a transitional housing facility for homeless men
• 2003 — Atlanta Union Mission’s My Sister’s House opens an expansion of its facilities providing emergency services and long-term residential recovery services to 264 women and women with children each day.
• 2004 – Village Atlanta reopens as transitional housing facility for women and women with children.
• 2008 — Atlanta Union Mission’s Community Center opens as an expansion to its The Shepherd’s Inn facility in downtown Atlanta and is able to serve 1,000 meals and provide shelter to 450 men every day.
• 2009 – The Carpenter’s House is temporarily closed.
• Spring 2010 – Atlanta Union Mission’s Thrift Store & More expands to metro Atlanta opening stores in Marietta and Roswell.
• June 2010 – Village Atlanta is temporarily closed.
• September 2010 – Atlanta Union Mission changes its name to Atlanta Mission laying the foundation for the next seven decades of service
• 2011 - Atlanta Mission thrift store opens in Duluth.

• 2012 – In April the first Team Racing to End Homelessness Run was staged 

In January 2013, the Atlanta Mission 5K will take place downtown near The Shepherd’s Inn facility located at 165 Ivan Allen Boulevard. Atlanta Mission also has several thrift stores loacted throughout the metro area and northward.

Athens Thrift Store
434 Prince Avenue, Athens, Georgia 30606
(706) 357-9240
Winder Thrift Store
141 West May Street, Winder, Georgia 30680
(706) 357-9243
Commerce Thrift Store
1416 South Broad Street, Commerce, Gerogia 30529
(706) 357-9241
Gainesville Thrift Store
328 Oak Street, Gainesville, Georgia 30506
(678) 420-0240
Gwinnett Thrift Store
1630 Pleasant Hill Road, Duluth, Georgia 30044
(404) 367-3932
Marietta Thrift Store
1140 Roswell Rd SE, Marietta, GA 30062
(404) 367-3920
Roswell Thrift Store
10800 Alpharetta Hwy, Roswell, GA 30076
(404) 367-3940

Donations may also be dropped off at:
The Shepherd’s Inn
165 Ivan Allen Blvd NW, Atlanta, Ga 30313
(404) 588-4015
The Potter’s House
655 Potter's House Road, Jefferson, Ga 30549
(706) 543-8338 x5103
My Sister’s House
921 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, Ga 30318
(404) 367-2465
Fuqua Hall
144 Mills Street, Atlanta, Ga 30313
(404) 367-2508
Atlanta Mission Administrative Offices
2352 Bolton Rd, Atlanta Ga 30318
(404) 588-4000