‘A heart for the homeless’: Boise Rescue Mission leader’s ‘irreplaceable legacy’
When the Rev. Bill Roscoe came to the Boise Rescue Mission Ministries in 2002, the homeless services organization had three small shelters in the Treasure Valley.
Over the next 24 years of Roscoe serving as the organization’s executive director, it expanded into a regionwide network of shelters and programs helping thousands of people exit homelessness and break addiction.
Roscoe is set to retire from his leadership role this year. Looking back on his time and the achievements of the organization, he told the Idaho Statesman in an interview that the Boise Rescue Mission became something beyond what he could have imagined.
He said he credits that to God, the organization’s staff and the residents of the Treasure Valley, who are “the most generous people on the face of the Earth,” he said.
Roscoe led the organization throughout two decades of explosive growth in Boise, whose population went from under 200,000 when he arrived to close to 240,000 now. Those who worked with him said he had a strong vision for what the Rescue Mission was able to provide.
“I’m so very, very grateful that I’ve been able to be in this position, doing these things, none of which could have happened without generosity beyond my wildest imagination to fund it all,” Roscoe said.
Boise Rescue Mission’s expansion under Roscoe’s leadership
The Boise Rescue Mission was established in 1958 as a faith-based service to people in need in Boise. It opened the doors of its Christ Gospel Mission on Capitol Boulevard in 1958 as a “haven for forgotten men.” It later relocated to Front Street.
By the time Roscoe got there in 2002, it comprised three shelters — the original shelter in Boise, Lighthouse Rescue Mission for men in Nampa and City Light Home for Women and Children in Boise.
Sandy Dalton, a member of the Boise Rescue Mission board of directors for nearly 25 years, said she was part of the board when it decided on Roscoe as the organization’s fifth executive director.
She told the Statesman that what they saw from Roscoe and what ultimately landed him the job, apart from his experience working with rescue missions and his background as a veteran, was that he had “a heart for the homeless.”
“He connected with so many of our guests, and that’s the No. 1 most important thing is to have a heart for the homeless,” Dalton said. “You’ll see him walk through the shelters and, you know, hug people, and he just talks with everyone.”
Before coming to the Boise Rescue Mission, Roscoe served in the Army from 1969 to 1972, he told the Statesman. Upon discharge he became a union carpenter working in residential and commercial construction in California. He worked as a staff member and board member of a rescue mission in California before coming to Boise.
Roscoe said his goal when he assumed the position was to extend services to more people, including children, veterans and people who were “medically fragile.” He saw the increased need for help in the Treasure Valley and wanted the mission to keep up, which came with its own difficulties. The organization got caught up in lawsuits over buying properties with the intention of building more shelters.
Eventually, over a span of nearly 20 years, it added four facilities for emergency, short-term and transitional housing, including the Valley Women and Children’s Shelter in Nampa, Recovery Lodge in Nampa, and Next Step Transitional Housing in Nampa and Boise.
The Boise Rescue Mission launched several programs, in addition to its longtime alcohol and addiction offerings, to aid in recovery. These included a job search program, a mental health initiative, a children’s program, the Cradle of Hope crisis pregnancy center and the Veterans Ministry Program.
Roscoe told the Statesman that the expansions were possible because of the large number of donations the organization received each year.
“I think what I really appreciate the most, and what makes me so extremely satisfied at this point in my career, is how the community has responded to the Rescue Mission,” Roscoe said.
Roscoe said there are still people in the Treasure Valley who need dedicated spaces, and he hopes the Boise Rescue Mission continues to expand, including for expectant mothers and elderly people experiencing homelessness.
“I really hope and believe that 10 years from now, this Rescue Mission will be even more wonderful than it is now,” Roscoe said.
Boise Rescue Mission staff say Roscoe is a ‘phenomenal leader’
Kelli Wilcox, manager of the Rescue Mission’s warehouse, first came to the organization 13 years ago when she was pregnant with her son — “as a last hope,” she told the Statesman.
She said the organization changed her life.
“When I got there, they just wrapped me up in love. It was the first time in a long time that I felt like somebody believed in me,” she said.
She started working there after finishing a recovery program, she said, and the Boise Rescue Mission became her family. She said that stemmed from Roscoe’s leadership.
“When he’s talking about what we do, it’s always about not losing sight of why we’re here, what we’re here to do, because it’s not always easy,” she said.
Misty Maxfield has been Roscoe’s executive assistant for almost 15 years, and she echoed that message.
Maxfield said she came for help in 2009 after bonding out of jail. She told the Statesman that she arrived seeking to pursue a better life. She completed a recovery program and was able to regain custody of her children, and then she continued working with the organization.
Roscoe, she said, became a large part of her family throughout the years.
Maxfield said she is amazed by the growth of the organization and how it was led by Roscoe, who leaves an “irreplaceable legacy.”
“He’s one of those names that’s never going to leave the Treasure Valley,” Maxfield said. “I believe that with all my heart.”
The Rescue Mission’s board of directors announced it will launch a national search for the next executive director, and Roscoe will continue to be involved in 2026 to help with the transition.
Dalton said board members hope to find another leader who will expand an operation that’s been in existence for nearly seven decades.
“We’ll continue our own mission of serving the poor many years in the future, and with another great leader,” Dalton said. “We will miss Rev. Roscoe. I’ll miss him. He’s just an amazing person to be around.”
