Programs

  Overview of programs   Looking back over 30 years of “just helping,” we realize that each of our programs began as a response to a need we observed in our urban neighborhood.   We saw people who were hungry, so we opened a food pantry. We saw people who were stuck in low paying manual jobs, so we started a vocational training program. We saw parents who could not provide gifts for their children at Christmas, so we started a Christmas Giving program. We saw families struggling to purchase the most basic items a family needs, so we opened a thrift store. We saw individuals who wanted to become citizens and who were being crushed by the enormous costs of legal services.  We saw newcomers who could not navigate the complex immigration system to solve their own problems, so we started an immigration services program. We saw individuals who did not have the cash to make large purchases – a refrigerator, a washer, a stove — so we started a no interest easy payment plan. We saw people who had no idea who “the poor” were. So we started a newsletter to put a “face on poverty.”