LEWISTON – In about a week, Brandon Arruda will strip the sheets from the bunk bed where he has slept for the past six months and head home to Massachusetts.

A recovering alcoholic and drug addict, Arruda is ready to leave Hope Haven Gospel Mission and go back to work as a commercial fisherman.

He isn’t worried about meeting up with old friends who may pressure him to drink. He isn’t afraid that he will resort to drugs if money gets tight and he gets stressed about making ends meet.

Unlike other times he has tried to stay sober, he trusts that God is on his side. It is something he learned during his time at Hope Haven.

“This place has shown me that God is there,” the 33-year-old said. “It’s nice not having any doubt.”

It is people like Arruda who will suffer if Hope Haven continues to lose money, said the Rev. Paul McLaughlin, the executive director of the Lincoln Street gospel mission.

For more than three decades, Hope Haven has provided free food and shelter to hundreds of men, women and families. Its soup kitchen serves about 30,000 meals a year, and its shelter provides beds for 25 people a night.

Some come only for the free meals and warm beds. Others, including Arruda, choose to participate in a six-month, Bible-based work and rehabilitation program.

Over the past few years, McLaughlin said, a decrease in donations coupled with a decline in state and federal grant money have put every aspect of the organization at risk.

Once hoping to build a new $7 million shelter, the mission’s primary financial goal has shifted to simply being able to continue paying its five employees.

This year, McLaughlin said, the mission has lost $17,000 in state and federal grants. That alone may have been manageable if private donations weren’t going down at the same time.

According to McLaughlin, donations dropped following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and they never recovered. The discovery in November 2002 that Hope Haven was unknowingly providing shelter to a man recently released from prison after raping a child didn’t help matters.

“It has been a combination of different things coming together at different times that has affected us financially,” McLaughlin said.

Those who run the mission have come up with a few ways to battle the loss in funding.

They have suspended use of the organization’s credit card. They have stopped giving bonuses to the employees, and the volunteers no longer get a $25 weekly stipend.

This Friday and Saturday, they are holding a garage sale in the building next to the shelter. The apartment building at 47 Cedar St. used to be a source of income for the mission, but the agency was forced to evict the tenants after the city determined the building was unsafe.

Now, Hope Haven wants to knock down the building in order to save money in insurance and taxes. But the demolition alone will cost $18,000, including $10,000 for asbestos removal.

McLaughlin also has approached other churches and local businesses about forming partnerships with Hope Haven.

He acknowledged that many businesses, especially the larger chains and franchises, are reluctant to donate money to a Christian-based organization.

McLaughlin recently asked the Home Depot to donate ceiling tiles and Sheetrock needed to do repairs at the century-old building that currently houses the shelter and soup kitchen. Company officials turned him down, explaining that company policy barred them from donating products to religious agencies, he said.

Despite the grim figures, McLaughlin, who has directed the mission since 1991, remains optimistic that people will come forward to help.

“Since we’re all in the same community, I think we’re all trying to accomplish the same thing,” he said.

What: Garage sale at Hope Haven Gospel Mission

Where: 47 Cedar St.

When: Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.