By Anne Ruisi
Perryn Carroll remembers the first time she saw homeless men outside the downtown Jimmie Hale Mission.
“To me there is nothing worse than being alone and without a home,” she recalled thinking at the time as she and her husband, Mike Carroll, drove home one day from their law practice. She resolved to do something to help.
Twenty-five years later, with more than two decades of volunteer service, including membership on the board of directors, Carroll is now Jimmie Hale’s executive director.
“It’s so exciting to go from a career to a calling,” said Carroll, who practiced general civil law with her husband for 32 years until September, when she became the mission’s executive director following a national search that drew 60 applicants.
As executive director, Carroll oversees a $6 million annual budget that is funded totally by donations. There are 68 full- and part-time staff working at Jimmie Hale’s three campuses.
These are:
• The Shepura Men’s Facility in the former Thomas School on Second Avenue North, with services for 80 men. This site also includes the mission’s offices.
• Jessie’s Place, a downtown shelter for up to 20 women and their children facing homelessness and other hardships, founded in 1998.
• Royal Pines, a residential addiction recovery center for men that opened in 1995 on 75 acres in Hayden, in Blount County. It ministers to 40 men.
That’s about 130 people who each and every day, for 365 days a year, receive assistance in Jimmie Hale’s recovery programs, including those who have gone through the program and are learning basic skills to move back into the community and live independently.
“The homeless and hurting, you need to give them a hand up to come out of that life,” Carroll said.
From Drunk to a Mission
The mission has been a mainstay of social and spiritual services in Birmingham for almost 80 years. Its namesake, Jimmie Hale, was known as the town drunk in the late 1930s and early 1940s, according to the mission’s website, jimmiehalemission.com.
He eventually turned his life over to Christ and “wanted to share God’s life-changing love with others, and to help those walking where he had,” according to the website. Jimmie set out “to create a place where homeless men could find encouragement and hope,” it continued.
Hale and his wife, Jessie, founded the mission in March 1944. He died eight months later due to health complications, leaving behind his pregnant widow. Jessie Hale was resolved to carry on the work and kept the facility alive for a decade on her own until Leo Shepura led the nonprofit.
During the past 78 years, the mission grew from one storefront to the three facilities it now has, Carroll said last month when she spoke about the nonprofit at the Homewood Chamber of Commerce meeting.
While substance abuse, including alcoholism, has long been a cause of homelessness, what has changed are the types of substances available in every community, she said.
“They’re more plentiful, easier to get and more powerful than ever before. So the issue is more serious and more pervasive. It’s in every neighborhood. It’s every day. And I would dare to say you’d be hard pressed to find a family” not affected by it, Carroll said.
The mission developed the 15-week active recovery program to address the issues of substance use and the causes of substance abuse. This program has a long-term success rate of more than 40%, which is higher than average, Carroll said.
“I credit that to the holistic take and spiritual aspect” of the recovery program, which is deeply rooted in Christianity, she said.
“You’re going to hear about Jesus here.”
That holistic approach includes helping clients make other changes necessary to live successfully in society. For example, there is a literacy program to help those who can’t read, a GED program and short-term work certificate programs, and some of the clients go on to earn associate degrees at community colleges.
Two program participants are now preparing to go to four-year colleges; one will study mechanical engineering at the University of Alabama and the other will study astrophysics at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, Carroll said
Renovations Ahead
Upcoming projects Carroll is overseeing include the current $4 million capital campaign to renovate the men’s dormitory at the Second Avenue North campus. So far, the mission has received a $750,000 affordable housing grant and a $2 million pledge from Philip McWane.
Dormitory living space now consists of rows of bunkbeds and one bathroom per floor. The renovation calls for upgrading to four-person “pods,” where each pod will have its own bathroom and each man will have his own space with a bed, side table, lamp and a reading chair, Carroll said.
The project also will include improvements to Jessie’s Place, which needs a new HVAC system and additional space for the kitchen at Royal Pines. Installing central air at Royal Pines is another project the mission wants to do, as the facility only has window units.
Another future plan for Royal Pines is adding a large garden where the residents can grow vegetables, providing fresh food for their table and at the other two campuses. Extra produce could be sold, perhaps at a farmer’s market like Pepper Place, which would help the men learn entrepreneurial skills, Carroll said.
The mission is welcoming new volunteers after having to limit opportunities during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Information for potential volunteers is available at jimmiehalemission.com/get-involved/volunteer.
Carroll encourages people to volunteer with their children, as she and her husband did with their own sons.
“Just take that step,” she said.
