Every day, people are struggling to make their lives better. Outreach programs in St. Vincent's Parish -- under whose auspices the programs of Inn Dwelling and Face to Face were conceived -- continue to respond creatively to peoples needs and the changing social and political climate.

Addressing community needs through direct service

The Emergency Food Cupboard, operating five days a week and supplying several hundred families a month with non-perishable food, fills an ever growing need of families in and around the Parish Hall. Often referred by already overburdened City-run programs, The Cupboard, which operates in partnership with an ecumenical effort to assist families and individuals, works with clients to not only meet their presenting needs, but to assess undeclared ones. This information is shared with other agencies in the area to promote a comprehensive, yet non-redundant effort.

Materials for work and for home

The Hall also houses the Thrift Shop, staffed entirely by volunteers who sort, price, and sell at low cost clothing, bedding, and other household goods. For some homeless men and women, the Thrift Shop provides the simple gift of clean dry clothes for a person whose closet is under a SEPTA overpass. It also provides clothing suitable for work or job interviews for some of the people on there way out of the cycle of poverty with St. Vincent's assistance.

Without any viable space whatsoever, a Furniture Bank operates, quite literally, flowing out the front doors of the Hall. Generous donors goods are matched to the needs of young families to furnish simple, yet dignified, living spaces.

Learning, learning, learning

At the Learning Lab adults, who have seen the closing of two local literacy centers, can get help with math and reading or prepare for the GED exam. With skilled tutors and dedicated support staff, the chasm of isolation is bridged by language and analytical skills. For some, the gift of being able to read is the basis for the recovery of a sense of personal dignity.

At various times throughout year, learning on another level -- about preparing nutritious meals, how to find and land a job, and how to negotiate the morass of public social services -- finds its place in the "classrooms" at 109 East Price Street.

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