A Family Called to Serve
“Restoration.”
That is the one word Eloise Hayes would use to describe Idaho Falls Rescue Mission (IFRM).
“IFRM restores hope in people. Offering a pathway to a life that is hopeful and worth living.”
For the Hayes family, serving at the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission has become more than an occasional volunteer opportunity. It has become a family legacy, a way of living out their faith, serving their community, and passing the goodness of God from one generation to the next.
Steve and Eloise Hayes have been faithful supporters of the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission since 2007. But their connection to IFRM began even earlier.
When their children were in grade school, the children attended Calvary Chapel Christian School, now known as Watersprings School, and attended Calvary Baptist Church with their family. Through the school, the children regularly participated in ministry throughout the community. Pastor Scotty Brown often brought the students to the Idaho Falls Rescue Mission to serve.
“I loved going with them to help,” Eloise remembers.
That early experience became part of a much larger story.
Today, all three of Steve and Eloise’s children have served IFRM in different ways, and the Hayes family now has three grandchildren they pray will grow up learning to serve others as well.
Their daughter, Joanna, painted a mural on the Men’s Shelter wall in August 2019. The mural included a Bible reference to Colossians 1:13 which says:
“He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.”
For four years, the mural pointed to the hope found in Christ and the transformation He brings.
Their son, Sam, has also found meaningful ways to serve at IFRM. He has cooked and served meals to guests, giving his time to help meet a very practical need within the community. But his involvement doesn’t stop at serving a meal. Sam also enjoys telling others about Idaho Falls Rescue Mission and helping people understand the work happening here.
Eloise and her other son, Ben, have participated in the Walk in the Cold 5K every year since it started 5 years ago. In 2026, Ben also encouraged his employer, IMEG, to sponsor the event, helping expand the circle of community support around IFRM.
And now, Eloise is helping create a new chapter in the Hayes family’s legacy.
She has begun organizing teams to cook and serve meals at IFRM each month. Steve and Eloise donate the food for their meals, providing a tremendous blessing to a ministry serving an average of 130 meals every night.
She has recruited her children, members of Calvary Baptist Church, and others in the community to join her. Ben has even brought his Watersprings high school football team to serve.
For Eloise, the reason is simple.
“As Christians, God calls us to serve one another. It shouldn’t be hard. If everyone would just do a little bit, we could work together and change lives.”
Her years of serving have also opened her eyes to needs that are easy to overlook.
“The most impactful for me is the women and family shelter because they have such a unique need,” she says. “People take the small things for granted. We don’t realize what we need until we don’t have it, feminine products, a hairbrush, diapers…”
Those seemingly small things can make an enormous difference to someone walking through a difficult season.
Serving together has changed the Hayes family.
“It has certainly strengthened our family,” Eloise says. “Serving at Idaho Falls Rescue Mission is humbling. It has humbled us and our children. God has been good to our family. We need to pass on His goodness to others. So that’s what we do.”
That is the heart of the Hayes family’s legacy.
They aren’t simply giving their time. They are teaching their children, and now praying for their grandchildren, to recognize that they have been blessed so they can bless others.
Their advice to families considering volunteering is just as simple:
“Just do it! It’s not hard, and it is so rewarding!”
Eloise remembers one particular experience when she and an all-girls teen volleyball team came together to assemble a playhouse for the children at IFRM.
“It was a really great time! We had fun, and learned a lot!”
Moments like that are what make service more than a task. They become opportunities to build relationships, grow in humility, discover purpose, and show others the love of Christ.
When asked what she hopes her children, grandchildren, and those they influence will remember about serving others in the name of Christ, Eloise’s answer was simple:
“First, we are called to serve others.”
For Eloise, serving isn’t simply about filling a need or giving back to the community. It is part of the Christian life. It is an opportunity to live out the calling God has given each of us and, in doing so, to find purpose.
“It is very rewarding,” she says. “Not just in this life, but also in the next. We can feel good about what we are doing when we serve others because it’s what we are called to do. It gives us purpose.”
That is the legacy the Hayes family hopes to pass on, not simply a tradition of volunteering, but a life shaped by the call of Christ to serve others.
A legacy that began with parents serving alongside their children, continued as those children found their own ways to serve, and now extends to three grandchildren they pray will grow up knowing the same truth:
God is good to us, and we need to pass on His goodness to others.
