KENOSHA WI, On Friday, May 13th, Grace Welcome Center will be celebrating its five year anniversary. Harborside Academy students have been hard at work preparing a spaghetti dinner, and also have completed several works done by the students to celebrate the theme. “To Serve Humanity Near and Far” will be held at Grace Welcome Center, located at 2006 60th St. from 3-6:00p.m.. At the program which starts at 5:00 p.m. in the church sanctuary, a special announcement will be made regarding an exciting new program that Grace Welcome Center will begin later in the year. This will be followed by a benefit concert featuring LUNDE at the Reuther Hall at Harborside Academy (913 57th St. Kenosha WI 53140).
For five years Grace Welcome Center has been providing for the underserved in our community. Starting five years ago with four volunteers, six guests, and Rev. Barker’s 12-cup coffee maker, our agency has miraculously grown to include a food pantry that serves on average 145 families a week. By the end of 2022, the Grace Welcome Center Food Pantry, since opening, will have distributed over 1,000,000 pounds of food to this community. The demand for food assistance grew tremendously during this pandemic. Our center has worked hard to gather the necessary food supply and volunteer staff to make this happen. With the recent skyrocketing of prices at the grocery stores, we have seen the numbers increase 20% in just the past month. Grace Welcome Center remains committed to ensure that all who come to our pantry are served.
Grace Welcome Center is so much more than providing food to those in need. Due to our strong reputation and connection to this community, we are often the first community agency approached for a helping hand when individuals and/or families lose their income or become homeless. Grace Welcome Center ensures their dignity and gives them hope by providing immediate assistance with food, clothing and bathing. We also provide a connection for them to Kenosha Human Development Services where they get enrolled in Coordinated Entry for community services, which will give them access to emergency shelter and counseling services.
Grace Welcome Center continues to serve a hot, nutritious breakfast every Thursday and Friday morning to our guests. Emergency food and clothing is distributed at that time. A shower program for the community is held on Thursdays. Each guest that comes for a shower receives brand new underwear, t-shirt, socks, toiletries and hygiene products. Our guests are tremendously grateful for a warm breakfast and shower to start their day.
Grace Welcome Center has always worked hard to meet whatever new need the community presents. This was demonstrated by our partnership with the Kenosha Health Department that we established early in 2021 as we became a vaccination site. Last year 900 individuals received Covid-19 vaccinations, and soon we will be offering second booster shots to the community.
Grace Welcome Center would not be possible without a tremendous volunteer team that works tirelessly week after week stocking food, packing grocery boxes, and making breakfast. Grace Welcome Center accomplishes all of this mainly through private donations. Also thanks to the tremendous generosity of the Kenosha community that supports Grace Welcome Center financially and with food drives, we have been able to achieve great things together. At this time we would appreciate your financial support so Grace Welcome Center is strongly prepared to meet the ongoing needs in this community.
To celebrate five years and support the mission of Grace Welcome Center, we are asking your support of FIVE FOR FIVE. For example, $5 covers the costs of 2.5 breakfasts, $50 covers the costs of 25 breakfasts; $5 covers 25lbs of food for our pantry, $50 covers 250lbs. of food; $50 covers the food costs for 5 families at our pantry; $5 covers the costs of clothing and toiletries for one guest to take a shower, $50 covers the costs of 10 guests taking a shower; and $50,000 would cover the entire operating expenses of Grace Welcome Center for half a year. We hope you will support one of these multiples of five to celebrate five years of serving our community.
Donations can be made at
https://gracewelcomecenter.org/donate/https://gracewelcomecenter.org/donate/ or checks can be made out to Grace Welcome Center and mailed to: Grace Welcome Center, 2006 60th St., Kenosha WI 53140.
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