It’s officially fall y’all! Like school students, we've been on a break from some regular meetings such as the monthly Pastors' Meeting and the Butler County Housing and Homeless Coalition meetings. This month, all the meetings resumed. It's a busy, exciting time, and we feel blessed to be part of such life-changing work.
SUCCESSES
Serve City's Leadership Team took a team-building trip to Cincinnati to visit Crayons to Computers, a nonprofit that offers shopping trips to schools, teachers, and other non-profits. In addition to office supplies, we were able to find cleaning supplies and a lot of other miscellaneous items that don't come to mind immediately but that we need to run an emergency shelter, housing, and programs that feed our 50 residents and up to 73 tenants.
Speaking of feeding residents and tenants, we are excited to begin a new partnership with JEE Foods, a local non-profit that rescues food and distributes it to the community at no cost. We will kick off this partnership next month, and it will enable us to continue offering the bi-monthly pop-up food pantry in The Source on the 2nd and 4th Tuesdays. It will also help to support our Lunch n Learns where residents and tenants attend SELF’s budgeting and nutrition classes and others while having a meal.
To achieve our goal of renovating The Source space so that we can offer pop-up classes and events with meals more frequently, we are again partnering with Queen of Peace School to raise funds for the QOP Food Insecurity Fund at our The Source Stomps Out Hunger Walk on Saturday, October 26th, 10am-12pm at Vora Technology Park! All proceeds will go into the QOP Fund at the Hamilton Community Foundation. Whether you can join us to walk or not, we hope you'll scan the QR Code or click the link to the flyer to learn more. Also, please share with your social networks.
Social media and technology are more prevalent than ever. Serve City strives to stay up to date with all of it, so we recently attended an AI training at the Hamilton Community Foundation to learn how we can use it responsibly to work smarter, not harder. And thanks to the generosity of some of our board members, we will soon have a digital signage Smart TV mounted in the shelter that will display Scriptures and what’s going on around Serve City.
Last month, I shared how we hope to strengthen our collaborations with the city of Hamilton and throughout Butler County so that everyone has a shared understanding of best practices around referring individuals experiencing homelessness to our emergency shelter. To that end, on Monday, November 4th, Serve City will host an "Intake to Impact" Lunch and Learn at the Butler County Educational Service Center. We look forward to sharing Serve City's policies and procedures with police departments, hospitals, jails, recovery and meal centers, churches, and other partner agencies. Doing so will help us better partner with all we serve to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our community.
Each month, Serve City has been blessed to have the 2022 Oxford Chamber Business of the Year winner, Juiquetta Harmon ('Kiki the Barber'), volunteer her time to provide complimentary haircuts to our residents. For the average person, we often dread the thought of having to schedule time out of our busy lives to get a trim; for those we serve, something as simple as a haircut can stir up a lot of emotions. Imagine going several months, or even years, without a proper haircut or shave. For many, this coupled with other deficiencies in self-care and hygiene may lead to a complete lack of self-confidence and worth. We also see the intrinsic value in having our folks look their best for future job interviews or for those of our residents who decide to pursue higher education while staying with us and need to attend in-person classes. No matter the reasoning, if any, behind the haircut, sometimes it's nice to just get a fresh trim while having someone there to listen to what you need to say. Thank you for being a friend, Kiki!
We are excited to be hosting our 3rd Annual Serve City Trunk or Treat event this Saturday, October 5th from 1:00 - 3:00PM in the Serve City parking lot. This is a great event that provides a safe and fun alternative for families in the neighborhood who are still hoping to participate in some festivities. There will be food, music, activities, and of course, CANDY! In previous years, we have had more than 60 little witches and ghouls come visit our Trunk or Treat. Any individuals interested in volunteering and bringing candy to pass out may reach out to us at jeffg@serve-city.org to sign up. The event is scheduled to happen rain or shine. We hope to see you there!
STRUGGLES
In all honesty, though the work we do is rewarding; it's also hard. The battle is not just against homelessness but against addiction, dysfunctional relationships, mental health challenges, and so much trauma. Our small but mighty team of individuals at Serve City and our Access Counseling in-house providers fight in the trenches daily. Their work exposes them to vicarious or secondhand trauma. Having a small staff means large work and caseloads, which means much-needed self-care often takes a back seat to the job at hand. All of this can lead to burnout and other negative consequences. Balancing preparing meals when volunteer meal sponsors wane adds to all the above.
SUPPORT NEEDED
Serve City is in continuous need of churches, businesses, and families interested in serving as meal sponsors for our ministry. We have seen a decrease in the past year of those willing to take just an hour out of their day to prepare and serve a hot meal for our neighbors in need. With limited staffing on each shift, meal sponsors provide free time for our staff to be able to focus on their primary responsibilities for their roles and keep everyone in the shelter safe. Maybe you can't commit to stay and serve? That is alright as well! Prepare the food ahead of time and drop it off with staff on your designated date. Every little bit of help goes a long way. Any individuals interested in becoming meal sponsors or have questions about how the program operates may reach out to us at meals@serve-city.org.
SCRIPTURE
“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” Galatians 6:9, NIV).
Thank you for stepping into the gaps with us so that we do not give up and can reap the harvest with those experiencing homelessness and who need help and hope.
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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