Ex-trucker finds home at mission, helps homeless people find theirs
The City Mission in Washington, Pennsylvania, doesn’t look like a mission, with its handsome dark-red buildings trimmed in white.
Across the street, inmates from the Washington County Jail hang out on a fenced-in balcony and look down at the hub of activity. Some of those inmates will make their way to the mission after their release.
The Christian-based homeless shelter bustles with men, women and families – temporary residents – working through therapy, on educational certifications, job searches, spiritual journeys, recovery from addiction and mental health issues.
Almost 70% of the homeless people who stay there 90 days or more find employment, housing, or secure disability status, said Dean Gartland, the mission’s recently retired president/ceo and now president emeritus.
Those staying less than 90 days have a 51% success rate of independence.
“I wish we had a 100% success rate,” Gartland said.
The Canonsburg resident has spent his career moving the needle: The mission’s success rate 15 years ago for people who stayed 90 days or more was about 36%. For stays less than 90 days, it was 20%, he said.
There are hard realities.
Not everybody is employable. Some have severe mental health issues and they need help in securing disability benefits, Gartland said. The mission assists them get those benefits.
Everything changed in Gartland’s life when he moved to Pittsburgh from his hometown of Johnstown and became a truck driver. He volunteered in the soup kitchen of the Light of Life Rescue Mission on Pittsburgh’s North Side and decided to follow Christ.
He worked various jobs, including truck driving, at Light of Life, where his brother was executive director.
“I ended up staying because I felt it was a calling in my life to serve the homeless and the poor,” Gartland said.
He quit his truck driving to work at Light of Life, checking in on residents at night.
He met his wife, Susan, at a baptism at the YMCA in 1975 that was sponsored by a church affiliated with the rescue.
When the couple married in the Light of Life’s chapel, some of the residents attended.
He was inspired to go to college to advance his work.
“Many of the homeless problems are deep-seated and chronic,” he said.
“We weren’t helping them to the best of our ability. I had to do something to educate myself to help people and better address their problems.”
He noted that many homeless people suffer from trauma.
“When you experience pain, you want to withdraw and many deal with trauma from abuse,” Gartland said. “They drink, use drugs, and get involved in other things to change the way they feel, which leads them down a dark path.”
To do more, he needed academic credentials.
Gartland started college at 30 to earn an associate degree in social work from Community College of Allegheny County, then attended night classes at Geneva College to earn a bachelor’s degree in human resources.
He advanced to case manager to program manager to director of programs for Light of Life, spending 28 years there.
He left after his brother Duane, then executive director of Light of Life, died in 2008. There was no prospect for him to move up to the executive director position.
Gartland was tapped by the City Mission as their director of programs.
“I got here and just knew this is where I needed to be,” he said. “I felt assurance and confidence inside.”
In 2009, he was promoted to vice president and director of programs and worked as an interim CEO. He served as CEO and president from 2010 to March 1, 2024.
But before he made his final career move, a Mission official told him he needed a master’s degree to move up.
To school he went, again, and at the age of 55, Gartland completed his master’s in organizational studies at Robert Morris University in 2010.
Gartland’s dream was to run mission services for the homeless. When he first arrived at the City Mission, it was with measured results.
People were coming and going and the men’s shelter was crowded. He told the Mission’s board he wanted to start a capital campaign to raise money for more and better facilities.
“I was told Washington County was not a wealthy county and that it would be hard,” he said.
Nevertheless, Gartland launched the mission’s capital campaign in 2012 to expand the men’s shelter and serve homeless veterans.
Gartland’s ambitious rebuilding program was like a phoenix rising from the ashes, said Michael Crabtree, professor of psychology at Washington & Jefferson College, vice-chairman of the Mission’s board.
The fire displaced 56 homeless men, and the following year in 2016, the newly expanded men’s shelter increased available beds from 59 to 96.
Gartland secured federal funding, foundation grants and donations to pay for the men’s and veterans’ shelters.
The vet’s facility opened in 2018. Then the women and children’s shelter needed renovation.
“They came in whatever rooms we had and they had to share a bathroom. That was rough for women and kids,” Gartland said.
So he secured federal grants for 11 new women and children’s suites with bathrooms and small kitchens.
Space for homeless single women is the last piece of expansion at the mission. With only 14 beds, the mission turns away 40-60 single women a month, Gartland said.
The mission has raised more than $5 million for a new $6.4 million building to better house them.
Gartland’s success is attributable to his analytical abilities and passion to do more for the homeless than offer “three hots (meals) and a cot,” Crabtree said.
“He rehabilitates them. This isn’t just about housing people. It’s about changing lives.”
THIS ISN’T JUST ABOUT HOUSING PEOPLE. IT’S ABOUT CHANGING LIVES. Michael Crabtree, vice-chairman of the City Mission’s board