The Astoria Women’s Rescue Mission is getting a name change. As of Saturday at 2 p.m., it will be called The House of Hope, and to celebrate, the mission will be hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony for the reopening.

The women’s facility, a few doors down from the men’s mission, is at capacity. Both facilities combined usually can accommodate 16 to 17 people. As of Thursday, there were 30 people staying at the rescue mission. But that has not detered Board President Jim Ray, who is full of hope. The mission is entirely funded by donations and the hope inside of it is what has inspired the name changing ceremony.

“We are not just a place where drunks and addicts come to hang out and we want to let people know that, with the open house and ceremony,” he said. “We do not allow drugs or alcohol in the mission and we work to not just give them a place to sleep, but help them through their hardships. It’s not skid row, bums can’t just hang around and watch television all day. This is a life-changing station where they can leave their old life behind and like the bible says, be born again. This is about getting a whole new lease on life.”

Part of the reason the mission is overfilled is because the mission takes referrals from officers of court and from the sheriff’s office.

“When a woman is released at 1 a.m. and they have nowhere to go, they are in a very vulnerable position where they are on the streets late at night and are liable to go back to their old ways or have the chance of getting picked up by someone and make their lives a whole lot worse than they were before,”?Ray said.

The mission allows for people to stay for one night to several months and even years. But if they’re not with the program and are just in the mission for a handout, their stay will be short-lived, Ray added.

“This is not just a place to sleep and eat,” he said. “We work to get them employed, to be productive individuals, to contribute and to be reintroduced to the society. They need to contribute and function.”

The board of directors has 12 members, who are not compensated but work from their hearts, Ray said. One board member comes by the mission on a regular basis to pick up a few folks, have them pick up litter in the community, and pays them from his own pocket. A separate set of 12 people are the auxiliary group who recognize the birthdays of the residents in the mission and bring them gifts for Christmas, as well as celebrate their sober-living achievements.

Ray says they would love to take advantage of a bigger facility, which has been offered and made available to them. But like those who win homes, but lose them because of the maintenence, he says they cannot afford to bring it up to code and remodel it. The estimated cost of the “free” building is several thousands dollars.

The rescue mission is located on West Bond Street.