SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY CHAMPION: NEIGHBORHOOD ALLIANCE
NEIGHBORHOOD ALLIANCE BUILDS ON NEARLY A CENTURY OF SERVING LORAIN COUNTY Nonprofit works to expand with facility improvements By SHANNON SMITH
CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO-CLEVELAND
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or more than 90 years, Neighborhood Alliance has been a compassionate advocate for Lorain County and its people, working to serve and grow the community from the inside out. Since its founding in 1927, the organization’s core values have not changed: Helping communities grow stronger by meeting critical needs and empowering individuals and families. The nonprofit’s services fall into four areas: shelter and emergency; child enrichment; family support; and senior enrichment. Neighborhood Alliance also helps with case planning, employment assistance, transportation support, referrals for additional services and other ways to help break the cycle of poverty. Eric Enos is one of the many people whose lives have been positively impacted by Neighborhood Alliance. After being let go from his long-term job six years ago, he became homeless after a year and a half of living off savings and applying for countless jobs to no avail. After losing his house, Enos turned to Neighborhood Alliance, which gave him a safe place to live and eat in a supportive environment. He also began volunteering for the organization’s Meals on Wheels program, which turned into a full-time job offer as a meal delivery driver. “We all plan for our future, but sometimes that changes,” Enos said. “You might be down on your luck, and you're going to need a place like Neighborhood Alliance that lifts you up to give you support.” A SOURCE OF SUPPORT -- IN NEED OF SUPPORT Despite having the largest shelter in the area, it can be a challenge for Neighborhood Alliance to assist the thousands of people who need its services. But, the recent donation of a former YMCA building in Elyria will likely help ease some of the nonprofit’s capacity and
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Neighborhood Alliance aims to strengthen the Lorain County community through a variety of services including transportation assistance, shelter, family support programs and more. efficiency struggles by opening space at its shelter and consolidating its kitchen facilities, according to Alicia Foss, president and CEO of Neighborhood Alliance. The Haven Center Homeless Shelter in Lorain is a full-service facility where volunteers and workers provide shelter, meals, toiletries, laundry, clothing and other support to men, women and families. The building also houses administrative offices as well as one of the kitchens that supports Neighborhood Alliance’s Meals on Wheels program. With the move of office and kitchen space to the former YMCA building in Elyria, the Haven Center will be renovated to accommodate 80 beds, from its current 68, with an upgrade to the bathrooms and a transition to a hotel-style floorplan with two people to a room. ‘NO NEED … TO BE ON A WAITING LIST TO GET FOOD’ At the beginning of the pandemic, there were more than 500 seniors on a waiting list to receive food because of a lack of resources and money, Foss said. While Neighborhood Alliance was able to eventually get everyone off the waiting list through donations and emergency funding, providing more than 83,000 meals
so far this year, the organization needed a more sustainable way to keep the program operating at the necessary capacity. The addition of the central kitchen at the YMCA building is a step in that direction. “We're looking at long-term planning on how we want to sustain that program going forward, because in my mind and in the mind of my team, there just really is no need for an older adult to be on a waiting list to get food, and we want to fix that for the county,” Foss said. Longtime volunteer Jen Schuler also stressed the critical need for the services that Neighborhood Alliance provides to the community, including the meals for seniors, many of whom are homebound and in need of social interaction. “I think if the pandemic has shown us anything, it's that we need each other,” said Schuler, who has volunteered with the organization for five years. “We are all connected to each other. We need to take care of each other … that is what's going to make a vibrant community.”
2021 GIVING GUIDE - CRAIN'S CONTENT STUDIO
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