HOUSE OF MERCY

Providing an ample amount of nutritious food to an ever-growing local Community in the neighborhoods we serve is the primary goal of House of Mercy.

The second goal is to ensure the people we serve are able to have access to social and financial services to assist in alleviating suffering.

We understand that simply handing food to the hungry may not necessarily be helping them in the long run. So, we've added free education, providing clients the opportunity to take entry level classes and seminars that provide a foundation for growth.

In our greater community, there are many contributors of local food-insecurity. Helping everyone in the community understand these, and helping to prepare volunteer ambassadors to address the issues of food-insecurity, malnutrition and poverty will help the local poor.

To ensure House of Mercy has enough nutritious food available for our families' needs (and for the growing need in the future), we made arrangements in summer 2015 to begin providing USDA food in a big way, in addition to providing the food we purchase for the Food Pantry.

In 2016 we're helping our clients take control of their food choices by teaching shopping on a budget and how to create tasty meals using the ingredients our families find in their bags from the Food Pantry. Additionally, we're finding ways of providing more fresh vegetables for our clientele.

Making sure our clients have information required to obtain additional health and social services in the community is an additional goal. We've compiled a complete list of all these services and are in-process of getting these eight-page booklets printed to provide to clients. Plans for the future include helping clients apply for assistance for utilities and SNAP benefits.

House of Mercy was founded in 2005, and immediately began providing food donated by local citizens to their less fortunate neighbors. We use USDA and other appropriate Federal, State, and Local resources that help us provide a venue for free food and clothing, and service referrals for our clients in need.

To keep abreast of the growing number of families coming to us for food, we moved into our current 12,900 square foot location in 2011. This includes a 2,700 square foot food pantry with four refrigerator/freezer combos and two full size freezers, a full size garage door from which food from Sysco Food Service and Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) food supplies are unloaded, and many shelving units on which to store shelf-stable foods.

Our clients may come any time from 11am to 5pm Monday through Friday, until 7pm on Wednesdays and on Saturdays by appointment to receive food and clothing allotments. There is a full-time Food Pantry Manager and nine Client Intake and Food Pantry volunteers. Our clients are able to choose their own clothing from our upscale Thrift Store (which also provides funding for the Food Pantry through the sale of items to the general public).

We keep track of our clients' data and the aid they've received with a proprietary database, located off-premise at a secure data center.
We have upwards of 7,900 past and current donors, a solid fundraising plan, a new website and over 4,000 followers on Facebook.

Both the Executive Director and Assistant Director are college educated. The Executive Director has 40 years of work experience and a Minor in Sociology. Eleven years have been in the non-profit and education sector. The Assistant Director has 15 years of work experience and four years experience in the non-profit finances sector. The Volunteer Services Coordinator has 11 years of volunteer and education experience, and holds a Volunteer Coordinator Specialist Certificate from the United Way. The Thrift Store/Warehouse Manager has 38 years of retail experience.

House of Mercy is fortunate to be led by a dedicated group of board members who share our commitment to a strong local food foundation for the needy. In true volunteer spirit, these men and women of our Board contribute their time, professional expertise, and resources to ensure we achieve our mission.

Many different individuals and organizations in our community provide collaborative support. We value our community partners and their synergy so that we may continue to enhance our monetary and non-monetary resources in support of our vision.

Our donors are very important to our organization. These generous individuals believe in turning their interest into action within our community.

- We increased our clientele from 160 families in Jan 2015 to a high of 213 families in Nov 2015. It has since declined due to a number of factors. We have rectified those items upon which we have control. Increased press releases and special client promotions should help bring these numbers back up quickly.
- Due to our exemplary and innovative record with Capital Area Food Bank, we were asked to participate in a pilot program to get free produce year-round to our clients.
- We have compiled a list of all aid resources available to clients in the greater Manassas area.
- A four-part English cooking and nutrition class was completed in May 2016 with an 800 percent increase in the number of people who finished the series. The same course will be offered in Spanish beginning in June 2016.
- The Executive Director has spoken to twelve groups since Jan. 2015. One group requested specific White Papers referenced in the talks so they could disseminate the information to peers and relatives.
- While we have gained many new volunteers, we've also lost a number of volunteers. Some of this was due to the volunteers not properly understanding, and committing to, the important work we undertake on behalf of the poor. A volunteer coordinator has been assigned for the upkeep and tracking of this all-important area.
- All staff job descriptions have been updated, and a standardized performance standard has been put into place. The Volunteer and Employee Manuals have been updated. Regular monthly Volunteer Meetings have been taking place since October 2015, and weekly Manager Meetings since March 2015.
- Regular Newsletters to volunteers and donors have been emailed every-other-month since Jan. 2015.
- Regular Facebook and Twitter posts are made Monday through Friday since March 2015.
- A strong and concerted push is currently in-process to retain current donors, and increase the number of individual donors and Grantors.

We still need to:
Enroll more clients, and help them locate and apply for financial aid.
Help staff, volunteers and the public understand the value we add to the community, and its importance.
Begin assisting clients apply for SNAP and LIHEAP assistance.
Create more and better classes to engage our clients in accepting a hand-up, not a hand-out.
Educate the Community of the pitfalls of poverty, and how we as a society pay for those pitfalls.
Continue to develop our volunteer program(s) and staffing programs.
Continue to develop fundraising strategies and resources.