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Our mission is to bring hope and fullness of life to those living in crushing poverty. We seek to not only save lives but also lead men, women, and children to new life in Jesus Christ. We seek to facilitate eternal change for Americans peering through the windows of inhumane shelter.
Working as Missionaries, Steven & Catherine Reese moved to the Appalachian Mountains in 1998 to serve the poor of the region. They founded the Christian Outreach Organization, Shelter Rock, and began searching remote areas for impoverished families.
Biography:
They discovered people still living on dirt floors made bare where the wood had been pulled up by single mothers and burned for heat. Their hearts were broken for the children they found living in conditions that parallel that of third world countries.
Many homes were without electricity because they could not afford the basic necessity. Others were draining rainwater from catch basins through windows without panes and into shacks where they would take sponge baths.
Working from a small pick-up truck, the Reese’s took food and clothing to families that had little to eat. They gave and God multiplied. Soon, they were given use of a 22,000 sq. ft. warehouse facility that now serves as the Shelter Rock Distribution Center.
The multi-use warehouse facility has been the processing center for the distribution of over 3,500 tons of food, toiletry items and medications. Thousands of articles of
clothing have been given to those with an inadequate selection of things to wear. To date, over 80,000 people have been served through Shelter Rock with the love of Jesus Christ. People desiring to serve the Lord by serving others come from all denominations to work in the Shelter Rock mission environment. In addition to the Life Sustaining provision Shelter Rock provides to the poor, the facility near Boone, NC regularly conducts Dental and Eye Clinics for thousands of the under-served and un-served of the region.
With five healthy grown children of their own, Steven, Ian, Phillip, Cassie and David, the Reese’s now work passionately for the little ones of Appalachia. Other Christians with like hearts are helping to reach the children of the Mountains through the Shelter Rock Programs and lasting change has come to thousands. Conducting Day Of Blessing Crusades, Shelter Rock moves forty to sixty tons of provision at a time into the various distressed Appalachian areas.
In Beckly, West Virginia, over 6,000 people attended the Day Of Blessing event, demonstrating the tremendous need of families that once depended on coal mines. Even though Shelter Rock moves tractor trailers filled with hundreds of tons of life sustaining provision to thousands of people, the caring volunteers give one gift at a time to one needy child at a time with a love that never fails!
The suffering children of Appalachia are the focus of Steven and Catherine’s desire to bring lasting change. It is their prayer that the line of compassion will soon be longer than the line of desperation.
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