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Nonprofit of the Year (Large): Wheeler Mission
CEO: Perry Hines
Chair: Mike Rasor
You most likely know Wheeler Mission as the place at Delaware and New York streets where people experiencing homelessness go for shelter and food.
And Wheeler is that. In 2024, it served over 411,000 meals; provided over 268,000 nights of service to nearly 12,000 men, women and children; and helped 951 people obtain a stable income and/or stable housing.
But Brian Crispin, Wheeler’s chief marketing and communications officer, will tell you that Wheeler is so much more.
For one thing, it’s the place that saved his life.
In 2006, Crispin was a college graduate with a career in business and marketing and an alcohol problem “that quickly took everything from me to the point where I was desperately looking for help.” A pastor friend recommended Wheeler.
“I’ll never forget sitting in an intake interview with someone who was on staff, who told me exactly what I needed to hear in that moment, which was the hard truth about where my life was going to end up if I didn’t get it turned around,” Crispin said. “I knew that if I continued down this path, I was going to end up either dead or in prison. He spoke that truth to me but also offered hope.”
Wheeler Mission offers short-term and long-term residential programs for male and female addicts, and Crispin knew he needed longer-term help. Crispin said he went through a program that helped stabilize his life and restore relations with family members and other people he had hurt along the way, and taught him how to be productive and sober long term.
“Everyone who comes through our front doors has access to programs like that,” he said.
After graduating from that program, Crispin went through a Wheeler leadership training program. He worked at the mission as part of the program and then was hired to work in the development department, where he spreads Wheeler’s message of help, hope and healing.
“We have a help door, which is that first step—the food, the shelter,” he said. “But we also have hope that we provide, which is the long-term or short-term programming, which is whatever they need to get some long-term stability, and then the healing phase, which is helping them to get back into society, back into communities, back into being a productive [member of] this community.”
Wheeler uses no government funding. Services are provided for free thanks to the generosity of the business community, area churches, individuals, grants and foundations, Crispin said. Wheeler’s annual Thanksgiving day Drumstick Dash run/walk brings in $1 million for its programs.
Huntington Bank is one of Wheeler’s partners.
“We’ve seen firsthand their unwavering commitment to creating safe, welcoming environments,” Brent Frymier, Huntington Bank’s senior vice president, regional marketing and communications, wrote in a letter supporting Wheeler as the Large Nonprofit of the Year. “From instituting enhanced safety measures at the Shelter for Men to expanding building upgrades and launching licensed child care at the Center for Women & Children, Wheeler ensures that every guest has the opportunity to rebuild with dignity and support.”•
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