Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown gives remarks Thursday during the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, which will cost $5.5 million to construct.

YOUNGSTOWN — The Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley expects to open its new location — just a short distance from its current home — in the next 12 to 14 months.

The organization had a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday at the new site, which is on Oakland Avenue, near North Worthington Street.

“We’re so blessed to have the community’s support,” said John Muckridge III, the mission’s CEO.

The mission has raised all but $302,417 of the $5.5 million it needs to build the new structure, Muckridge said.

The city sold 27 parcels to the Rescue Mission in September for $6,480 for its new location. The mission is building a 47,500-square-foot facility.

It will work to find a buyer for its current location at 962 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. If it can’t, the mission will demolish the 89-year-old building, which originally was a YMCA.

The mission provides food, shelter and counseling to those in need. Its normal overnight capacity is 168 people with an emergency capacity of 198 with the addition of 30 cots and sleeping bags.

Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said at the groundbreaking: “I love brick and mortar, but I love the people more than anything,” adding that the rescue mission plays an important role in helping people who need a little assistance.

The mission initially had planned to relocate to a site on the city’s South Side, but opted to stay on the North Side for the betterment of its clientele, Muckridge said.

“Our clients spend most of their time in doctor appointments and things that are located on the North Side,” he said. “So instead of walking all the way from the South Side to get here, the hope was to stay on the North Side. The neighbors desired for us to stay, and we’re extremely humble and thankful for that.”

Other locations on the North Side that mission clients use include St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and the Youngstown Veterans Affairs Clinic, and it’s close to Youngstown State University.

While looking for locations on the North Side, Muckridge said he spoke with Debora Flora, executive director of the Mahoning County Land Bank, who suggested the selected site.

“There was a great deal of empty land owned by the city and county land banks, and when John said he needed a new location, I did some research and it led back to here,” Flora said. “There were a few residential demolitions in the past few years here. It’s on a bus line, and it’s not far from the current Rescue Mission. For so many reasons it was the right place.”

The mission also needs about $1.5 million to furnish the new building, Muckridge said.

“What we plan on doing is bring the things we currently use into the new building unless the Lord provides us with the $1.5 million we would need to purchase new furniture, new beds, new dressers, new mattresses, new tables — things like that,” he said.

People can donate to the mission online at moveourmission.org.