2023 Economic Impact Awards 36-74 Years in Business Top Honors: Victory Mission and Ministry

When Victory Mission and Ministry was founded in 1976, it was a soup kitchen. Today, the nonprofit takes a holistic approach to nourishment. Its mission: “to share God’s love through intentional relationships for the restoration of a brokenhearted world.”

Many of the people Victory Mission serves have practical needs – food, clothing and shelter, or maybe help obtaining a state ID. They also may need vocational and financial training.

While helping people attend to these basics, Victory Mission also can begin to address personal and spiritual needs, Executive Director Jason Hynson says.

He has a favorite verse in Proverbs 20:5: “The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water, but a person of understanding will draw it out.”

“We want to be that person,” Hynson says. “When you engage someone with a relationship, sometimes there’s deep water, and it’s murky in there. You can’t see. It’s cold. We’re unwilling sometimes to open the doors of our heart.”

Victory Mission props open those doors through a yearlong process it refers to as restoration.

“It really is a process,” Hynson says. “All along the way, we’re getting to know people, helping with workforce development, teaching workshops and life skills.”

For some, the process makes them eager for more, but for others, the practical help is enough to set their course.

“Some people say, ‘I need more of that.’ Others say, ‘Hey, I appreciate all you did – I learned some anger management, got a job.’ It’s about them taking the next steps,” Hynson says.

In 2016, the organization had nearly $600,000 in long-term debt, more than $500,000 in current liabilities and no net cash reserves. However, in 2022, revenue was $3.4 million, long-term debt was completely paid off and current liabilities were reduced to less than $200,000 with nine months of cash reserves. Social enterprise revenue, including production of Equip Coffee and textile recycling – both of which are workforce training initiatives – covers 100% of administrative overhead expenses.

Hynson says the work of Victory Mission is essential to the community.

“From here, men and women are sent out to become your neighbors and friends,” he says. “They become your customers and clients. They shop at your stores, and they’re patrons of your restaurants.”

He notes the annual recurring cost for someone experiencing homelessness averages more than $38,000 per year, but the situation bears more than an economic burden.

“It deeply affects our families and neighbors at the heart of our community,” he says.