Cornerstone Mission

09/22/2026

09/22/2026

❤️ Building Life Skills, Strengthening Faith, and Rebuilding Lives — One Meal at a Time!

We want to give a special shout-out to Kelly Williams, our Life Skills Facilitator at Cornerstone Mission Project!

Kelly has done a fabulous job working with the men and women in our emergency shelter programs at Cornerstone Mission and Diana’s Faith House.

Through her Life Skills classes, participants are learning practical, everyday skills that will serve them long after they leave our shelters. From meal planning and grocery shopping to budgeting and preparing affordable, nutritious meals, these classes are about so much more than cooking.

They are about building confidence, independence, self-worth, and the skills needed to maintain stability as they move toward permanent housing.

But just as importantly, they are about faith. They are about reminding those we serve that God has not forgotten them, that their past does not define their future, and that every small step forward matters.

Kelly shared these beautiful words about the class, and we wanted to share them with you:

"Cornerstone Mission started these Life Skills classes hoping someone would walk away with something they could actually use. God had more in mind than that.

These men and women have learned how to plan meals, shop for what they need, stay within a budget, and put healthy food on the table. That may sound simple if you grew up with it. For someone coming out of homelessness, it is not always something they were ever taught.

Watching them do the work has been a reminder that God meets us where we are and teaches us what we need for the next step — not all at once, but in practical ways.

How to feed yourself. How to stretch a dollar. How to take care of the life you are building.

Their hard work is what made this possible: a cookbook of easy, inexpensive recipes they can keep using long after class is over.

Hamburger Helper. Tuna sandwiches. Pork chops and potatoes. Chili. Chicken and dumplings. Real food they can afford and know how to cook.

We are proud of these classes. More than that, we are grateful.

God is still teaching — in a kitchen, on a budget, one meal at a time."

— Kelly Williams, Life Skills Facilitator

❤️ Thank you, Kelly, for investing in the lives of the men and women we serve!

At Cornerstone Mission Project, we believe that helping someone rebuild their life means more than providing a bed and a meal. It means walking alongside them, teaching practical skills, encouraging their faith, and helping them recognize the potential God has placed within them.

Sometimes ministry happens during Bible study. Sometimes it happens through prayer. And sometimes it happens standing beside someone in a kitchen, teaching them how to prepare a meal they will one day make in a home of their own.

We are so proud of our participants and grateful for every person who pours into their lives.

"I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." — Philippians 4:13 (KJV)

🙏 One skill at a time. One step at a time. One life at a time.

09/11/2026

UPDATE — AND THANK YOU, COMMUNITY ❤️🙏

First, I want to say thank you.

Thank you for the prayers. Thank you for the phone numbers, resources, suggestions, offers to help, and messages of concern for this gentleman. So many people reached out because they genuinely wanted to make sure an elderly veteran in our community was safe and cared for.

And today, I am very thankful that I can share some good news.

He is safe and has been transported to a facility where he can receive the level of care and support he needs. Praise Jesus! 🙏

Our team continued working through several issues with him, including the situation involving his finances and access to his own resources. We worked directly with his local bank branch, and I cannot thank them enough. They listened to the situation, understood the urgency, pulled some strings, and helped us access some of his own resources so we could move forward.

A HUGE shout-out also goes to Place My Care for the rapid response, guidance, and support in helping us navigate an appropriate placement.

There was a required deposit for the facility, and another nonprofit organization stepped in and provided that deposit so there would not be another barrier standing between this gentleman and the care he needed.

That is what community collaboration looks like.

Different people and organizations stepped in, carried different pieces, and today this gentleman is somewhere safe where his needs can be appropriately addressed.

I also want to clarify something about my original post.

Many people commented with wonderful resources—VA contacts, veteran organizations, Adult Protective Services, healthcare resources, assisted-living options, advocates, and others.

Please know that many of those resources had already been contacted and continued to be contacted.

My original post was not really about needing another phone number.

It was about the gaps between all of those phone numbers, programs, facilities, systems, and services.

And I want to reiterate something I said in the original post:

“This is a failure—not necessarily the failure of one person or one program, but a failure of a system.”

I want to emphasize that again because it matters.

This was not the failure of just one program. It was not the failure of one facility. It was not the failure of one case manager, one hospital, one veteran organization, or one person.

This gentleman had contact with multiple parts of our service and healthcare systems. People did try to help him. Services were offered. People advocated. Programs operated within the limitations of what they were designed, staffed, licensed, and funded to do.

And yet, despite all of that, an elderly, medically fragile veteran still ended up at a general emergency homeless shelter needing a level of care we were not equipped to provide.

That is a system failure.

And when I say we have to do better, I mean all of us—including Cornerstone Mission.

We all have to be willing to look at our piece of the system and ask: Could we communicate better? Could we coordinate better? Could we make a stronger handoff? Could we follow up differently? Could we recognize sooner when someone does not have the ability to navigate the next step independently?

This isn't about pointing fingers.

It is about all of us looking in the mirror. Cornerstone included.

There is also another reason this situation concerned me so deeply.

For Cornerstone, the process happened backwards.

Normally, we are the beginning.

Someone experiencing homelessness comes to Cornerstone seeking emergency shelter. During intake and case management, we may discover that the individual is a veteran. We then work to connect that person into veteran-specific programs and resources and whatever other services are appropriate.

That is part of our role as an emergency homeless shelter.

In this situation, this gentleman had already been identified as a veteran. He had already been connected with veteran-specific services and healthcare systems.

Yet after moving through those systems, he ultimately arrived at Cornerstone, a general emergency homeless shelter, medically fragile and with significant unresolved needs.

Instead of Cornerstone being the beginning of the process and helping connect a veteran into specialized services, we became one of the last steps.

That is backwards.

And when we reached out looking for direction, we encountered the same reality others had encountered before us: his needs were beyond what certain programs could provide.

But they were beyond what we could provide too.

So the question became:

Where does this gentleman go now?

That is the gap I was talking about.

It doesn't mean the people before us didn't care.

It doesn't mean another program didn't try.

It doesn't mean someone didn't make the referral or offer the resource.

It means that despite everyone doing different pieces, the pieces did not connect well enough to produce a safe resolution before he reached another program that also could not meet his level of need.

That is where we all have to do better.

Case management and coordination cannot stop at the edge of our individual programs. When one organization reaches the limit of what it can provide, there needs to be a stronger bridge to whatever comes next—especially when the person involved cannot navigate that bridge alone.

Thankfully, this time, our community found that bridge.

Our team worked directly with his bank and helped address the financial/resource issue.

Place My Care responded rapidly and helped us navigate an appropriate placement.

Another nonprofit stepped forward and paid the required deposit.

And he was transported to a facility where he can safely receive the services and support he needs.

Praise Jesus. 🙏

Thank you to the Cornerstone team for refusing to give up.

Thank you to his local bank branch for seeing the person behind the paperwork and helping us find a solution.

Thank you to Place My Care for responding when we needed direction and helping us move quickly.

Thank you to the nonprofit that stepped forward and removed the financial barrier to placement.

And thank you to everyone in this community who prayed, offered resources, offered your professional skills, made suggestions, or simply asked, “How can I help?”

His immediate crisis now has a resolution.

But I don't want the resolution to make us forget the lesson.

This was a system failure across the board—not the failure of one program or one facility. And fixing that system requires all of us, Cornerstone included, to be willing to look at what we can do better.

Our goal shouldn't be to determine who deserves the blame.

Our goal should be to make sure the next elderly, medically fragile veteran—or any vulnerable person—doesn't have to travel backwards through our systems before finally reaching the care they need.

We can do better. We all have to do better. And Cornerstone is part of that “we.”

Thank you for caring.

Thank you for praying.

And thank you for standing in the gap with us.

God is good. ❤️🙏

09/10/2026

I am frustrated. Deeply frustrated.

Cornerstone Mission is currently caring for an elderly veteran who was discharged from a veteran-serving program and ended up back on the streets. He was ultimately brought to our shelter.

This gentleman is medically fragile and needs a level of support beyond what our small emergency shelter and small staff are designed or equipped to provide.

I understand there are times when individuals enter shelters or other programs and, for many different reasons, do not follow program requirements or follow through with their case plans. Programs have rules, expectations, and limitations. I understand that.

But sometimes we have to recognize when a person simply does not have the capacity or resources to navigate the system on their own.

That is what we are seeing here.

This gentleman needs assistance understanding and managing his medications. He needs help with basic medical needs, including changing bandages. He needs someone helping him understand appointments, paperwork, resources, and what he is supposed to do next.

On top of all of this, he has also been a victim of fraud.

He currently does not have access to resources that should be available to him, and he does not have the ability to navigate the complicated process of trying to regain access to those resources on his own.

Think about that for a moment.

We are asking an elderly, medically fragile veteran—who is homeless, has been victimized, has limited access to his own resources, and struggles to navigate these systems—to somehow put all of these pieces back together himself.

He can't. He needs someone to walk beside him and help him do it.

That is where case management matters.

Case management is not simply handing someone a phone number, giving them an appointment, providing a resource list, or developing a case plan.

It is recognizing the person's actual ability to follow through with that plan.

Sometimes case management means making the call with them. Helping complete the paperwork. Coordinating transportation. Talking with providers. Helping restore benefits or resources. Following up when something doesn't happen. Advocating when the person cannot advocate for themselves. And recognizing when someone needs a higher level of care than a homeless shelter can provide.

Our small emergency shelter is not a medical facility.

When someone comes through our doors who cannot fully care for themselves, cannot manage their medications, needs assistance with wound care, and cannot independently navigate the systems necessary to regain access to their own resources, that is beyond what our shelter is designed and staffed to provide.

Yet here we are.

And I want to say thank you to the Cornerstone Mission team.

You are going above and beyond trying to figure out how to care for this gentleman as safely as we can while we work toward an appropriate solution. You are making calls, asking questions, advocating, coordinating, and doing what you can because there is a vulnerable human being in front of you who needs help.

I see you, and I appreciate you.

But we should not be the last step for this gentleman.

This is a failure—not necessarily the failure of one person or one program, but a failure of a system when an elderly, medically fragile veteran can move through services and still end up homeless without the support necessary to care for himself or access his own resources.

There are veteran services. There are healthcare systems. There are housing programs. There are community partners. Having those resources means very little if the person who desperately needs them does not have the capacity to navigate his way through them.

We will continue advocating for this gentleman. We will continue making calls. We will continue trying to connect the pieces and get him somewhere appropriate and safe.

But Cornerstone Mission should not be the last stop for an elderly, medically fragile veteran who cannot fully care for himself.

A referral is not a resolution.
A case plan without the support to accomplish it is just a piece of paper.
And discharging a vulnerable person to homelessness is not a successful outcome.

We have to do better.

09/02/2026

🌱 YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN GOD IS USING YOU TO PLANT A SEED 🌱

At Cornerstone Mission, members of our community will sometimes hire individuals from the Mission for day work—yard work, moving, cleanup, or other jobs. It gives someone an opportunity to earn a little money while helping a neighbor.

We have one wonderful community member who regularly hires individuals from the Mission when she needs an extra set of hands.

This past Saturday, she hired one of our guys to help her.

He went there expecting to work.

But God had something more planned.

While he was working hard, she was doing something else, too—she was planting seeds. She took the opportunity God gave her to talk with him, encourage him, and share her faith.

When he came back to Cornerstone, he was on fire for the Lord.

He told us that he had accepted Jesus and had been saved. He asked if he could start visiting churches so he could find a church home. Then he told us:

“I want to be baptized.”

What started as a simple day of work became something so much bigger.

Never underestimate the opportunity God puts in front of you.

Never underestimate a conversation.

Never underestimate an act of kindness.

And never underestimate the power of simply planting a seed.

You may not know what someone is carrying. You may not know what God has already been doing in their heart. And you may never know when you are the person God chooses to use in that exact moment.

Some plant. Some water.

But God gives the increase. ❤️

Today, we are celebrating a man who went out looking for a day's work and came back looking for a church home, wanting to follow Jesus and be baptized.

Keep planting seeds. You never know where they will grow. 🌱✝️

— Cornerstone Mission

08/18/2026

TODAY, OUR TEAM CRIED TEARS OF JOY. ❤️
For more than five years, our team has walked alongside a woman experiencing homelessness who has struggled significantly with her mental health.

There have been good days and incredibly difficult days. There have been times when she could engage in services and times when her mental health made that nearly impossible. There were times when all we could do was continue Street Outreach, provide basic needs, remind her that she was still welcome to seek help, and keep showing up.

And we prayed.

We prayed over her. We prayed with her. We prayed that someday the right person, the right program, and the right opportunity would come together.

Over the last year, we began seeing something change. She faithfully participated in outpatient mental health services and continued trying—even when the system was difficult to navigate and even when progress wasn't a straight line.

Then, about two months ago, another piece of the puzzle arrived.
Andrew Pritchert with Cornerstone Healing Center Clinical Outreach began working alongside us.

Andrew does something our community desperately needs: he shows up. He meets people where they are, builds trust, and works to connect individuals with the appropriate level of care—even when that care is somewhere else in Arizona.

For organizations working on the front lines of homelessness, that follow-through means everything.
Too often, we encounter someone in a serious mental health crisis, make the calls, send the referrals, and try to connect the pieces—only to find ourselves right back where we started. The individual returns to the street, and our team continues caring for them while we try again.

Today was different.

Today, after more than five years of engagement, setbacks, services, conversations, advocacy, and prayer, this woman was connected to the help she has been asking for.

And our team cried.

Not because the journey is finished. It isn't.
We cried because someone followed through.
We cried because she wasn't simply left to languish on the street.
We cried because after years of praying, advocating, and refusing to give up on her, there is finally another door open.
This is what partnership is supposed to look like.

Homelessness isn't always solved with a bed or an apartment. Sometimes, before housing can ever become sustainable, a person needs someone willing to walk directly into the complicated parts of their life and help connect them to the care they need.

Today, we are incredibly grateful for Andrew, Cornerstone Healing Center Clinical Outreach, our mental health partners, our Street Outreach team, and every person who continued believing that this woman's story could have a different chapter.

Most of all, we are grateful that she kept asking for help.
Five years is a long time to keep showing up.
But today reminded us why we do.

Never stop planting seeds. Never stop building partnerships. Never stop showing up. And never stop praying.
Sometimes the answer takes years.
Today, we got to witness one. ❤️🙏

08/12/2026

🥕🍌 FOOD GIVEAWAY TOMORROW! 🍑🥦

Cornerstone Mission will be having a FREE Food Giveaway tomorrow from 3:30–5:30 PM!

We expect to have:

🧀 Shredded Cheese
🍌 Bananas
🍑 Peaches & Nectarines
🥕 Carrots
🧅 Onions
🥔 Potatoes
🥬 Celery
🍈 Cantaloupe
🥦 Broccoli
🥛 Milk
🥚 Eggs
🥬 Cabbage
& MORE!

📅 Thursday, August 20
⏰ 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM

Please help us spread the word and share this post with anyone who could use a little extra food for their household! ❤️

Cornerstone Mission Project