It's 2025, and the new year brings many new things to Serve City! To get the year started strong, our Leadership Team engaged in strategic planning that brought Serve City's mission, purpose statement, vision, and priorities front and center. To see them, please visit our updated website at https://www.serve-city.org. While there, please click the “About Us” to see that we've updated our website with photos of our team dressed in our Serve City Christmas shirts from the board. Our smiling team not only aligns our work with our core values, we use them to share our stories. At the end of last year, rather than blogging, I focused my efforts on our “Serve City Stories – Intake to Impact” End of the Year Letter. And I’m so delighted to share that it must have touched hearts based on the response we received in generous donations. Thank you! In this post, I'll update you on other end-of-year happenings and what's new around Serve City.
SUCCESSES
In November we hosted an Intake to Impact Lunch and Learn at the Butler County Educational Service Center. We had a great turnout and tremendous support from agency partners, elected officials, and caring community members. We also appreciate Chick-fil-A A Fairfield Township and Lauren Marsch from the Meal Center for donating the lunch. The Leadership Team shared best practices around referring individuals experiencing homelessness to Serve City, our intake process, and the expected impact as they transition to housing.
At the end of the year, Butler Metropolitan Housing Authority awarded Serve City with twenty-five project-based vouchers so we can begin leasing our Permanent Supportive Housing units. This is in addition to grant funding to offer housing to transition-age youth, ages eighteen to twenty-four in partnership with Butler County Educational Services. Soon thereafter, we also received a grant from the Hamilton Community Foundation to partially fund a Housing Case Manager to work with this unique group.
During the holidays, thanks to your giving and that of community partners, like Tano Bistro, we were able to serve residents and tenants Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, host a Christmas Toy Shop, distribute gifts, and share the real reason for the season with all we serve.
On our first day back from winter vacations, a few of us braved what I call “Snowmageddon” to go present at Molson Coors. In addition to providing fifty-eight turkeys for Thanksgiving (Butler County United Way connected us), they awarded us funds to revamp our marketing materials, and then they packed 500 toiletry bags for us to use with intakes.
Just this week, Serve City and our in-house counseling provider, Access Counseling, participated in the HUD-mandated annual Point in Time (PIT) Count. We look forward to learning how many individuals experiencing homelessness we counted so that we can best serve their needs. In our upcoming quarterly newsletter, we’ll share Serve City and Access’ 2024 impact statistics.
The Source space has been transformed and now hosts pop-up pantries every Tuesday of the month, from 10 am-12 pm, along with other educational events – all with a meal associated. Next Tuesday's pop-up will include a coat giveaway. And soon we'll be set to host Redeemer Church and the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce Mix It Up networking event in February. We also host a monthly Community Care Fair (formerly the Resource Fair).
Finally, please save the date as our Rejuvenating Dignity Gala will return this year on October 18th! While the event will be held at The Com again, we’re shaking things up to keep it fresh but will still serve scrumptious Tano Bistro food.
STRUGGLES
So much change and development does not come without growing pains. Our small but mighty team does a lot and could use help. Thankfully, we have some funding to hire a part-time Bookkeeper/Admin Support person. Please watch for the job post on our socials and Indeed.
SUPPORT NEEDED
Next month, we’ll launch our Love Your Neighbor Campaign on Valentine’s Day. We hope you’ll read our posts, like, follow, and share them. Also, please consider blessing us with your time, talent, and/or treasures. Again, we need administrative support, volunteers to teach classes such as Bible studies, meal sponsors, and financial gifts to impact other areas of the ministry. Link/QR Code. As our January Volunteer of the Month, Dale knows giving back feels good. We're also seeking board members from the Spanish-speaking community and those with grant and HR expertise. Please email me at tammie@serve-city.org if interested.
"The old has gone, the new is here!" 2 Corinthians 5:17. While we hold on to the past and honor it, we fully embrace the new as we move forward.
Blessings in 2025!
Serving Him at Serve City,
Dr. Tammi Ector
To make a general, unrestricted donation to support Serve City, please go to:
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