Just a short walk from New York State’s capitol and the Empire State Plaza are the bleak streets of Albany’s South End. But out of the squalor, on the upper brick wall on a corner of South Pearl Street, shines a white cross with two intersecting words on it in red neon letters: JESUS SAVES.
The landmark sign welcomes tired, hungry, drug-and-alcohol-ravaged souls to the Capital City Rescue Mission, which houses more than 300 homeless people a night, according to Perry Jones, who has been the mission’s executive director for 44 years. But many have to sleep on mats on the floor, which is why the Christian shelter is seeking to build a $6 million four-story addition on land it owns.
