Read the latest from His House

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My name is Martha Brannon, Founder and Executive Director of His House Foundation (HHF), a        501(c )(3) organization that provides direct services to families in need  and acts as a catalyst for increased sharing within our community.  HHF has a focus on assisting families that are homeless or recently homeless, and people experiencing crisis. We are proud of our commitment to do all this without boundaries, limits, or service areas.  We serve based on dignity and need. 

The His House Foundation team believe food and shelter are considered core essentials for human life and should be accessible without barriers.

We are writing to thank everyone for supporting our organization in 2020 and assisting in our response to the crisis of Covid-19. HHF immediately responded to emergency requests of food and basic needs.  We expanded our Abundance Food Share for the Carver County hotel program serving local homeless. 

ABUNDANCE FOOD SHARE

Abundance is collecting and redistributing approximately 10,000 pounds of food each month in partnership with Carver County Environmental Services and their program of diverting food from the waste stream. Some of our food partners are Buddy Boy’s Barbecue, Little Caesars Pizza, Star Bucks, KFC and Chick-Fil-A.  We also pick-up perishables from several food shelves and deliver those items immediately to the hotels with homeless programs and people in crisis. The Abundance team delivers food and basic needs daily to all 4 hotels that participate in the county homeless program, and several other hotels where people are living after being excluded from traditional rental options.

CARES AND CHAP RENTAL ASSISTANCE

His House coordinated 8 workshops for the government emergency rental assistance programs due to COVID-19: CARES and CHAP funding.  We partnered with Mt Calvary Lutheran Church, Excelsior United Methodist, and the West Interfaith Community Engagement team. The workshops focused on removing barriers such as technology, language and qualifications.  Our process resulted in over $100,000 in emergency back rent paid out to landlords.

HOMELESS TRANSISTIONS

Each month the wonderful His House volunteers assist approximately 8 households move out of homelessness and into sustainable housing.  This transition includes new pillows, bedding, towels, dishes, pot and pans, detergent and dish soap. We also have taken on the need in a coordinated effort of delivering mattresses for all family members. This can be as many as 6 mattresses in a household. Collecting and moving used mattresses so people will have a bed to sleep in their first night in their new home.  We estimate 288 mattresses have been collected and redistributed in 2020.

COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTER

The Community Resource Center is in the basement of the Chaska Moravian Church with access on Walnut St.  We serve families in crisis with basic needs including clothing, winter gear, personal care products, and food.  Every day people request access or see the door open and stop by.  We made modifications during the COVID-19 crisis by following CDC guidelines and limiting the number of visitors.  Even though the Resource Center is open by appointment only, we served over 2,000 clients in 2020.   

EMERGENCY HOUSING FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE   

His House Foundation provided emergency housing financial assistance of $9,275 to people that were homeless or near homeless and did not qualify for other programs.  Most of the funding was requested for people excluded from any housing options, literally homeless because of behaviors that put their housing at risk, or hotel stays for people waiting to enter the county’s homeless programs.   Approximately 7% was used for prevention. 

LOOKING AHEAD

We are ready for 2021!   His House and our food share program Abundance is committed to increasing food access and basic needs to people that have barriers accessing these in traditional ways.  As more people slip into financial crisis, we are ready to address basic needs in a cohesive flow without barriers put in place that can allow personal judgements and stereotypes to interrupt that flow.  The state of MN approved HHF to provide services and case management to clients with greater barriers to stable housing.   We believe food is a metaphor for need and are committed to making food and necessities more accessible to all.

Martha Brannon, Executive Director, His House Foundation

AT THIS HOUSE WE CALL IT SHARING

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Recycle. Repurpose. Reclaim. Recover. These are all words used to reclaim an item that might have outworn its original usefulness, and reuse it for something or someone else.

At His House we have been doing that with clothing, sofas, and mattresses for about 9 years at our Minnetonka store and for 2 years through our warehouse partner RAK (Random Acts of Kindness). We pick up a sofa from one person and deliver it to someone who doesn’t have a sofa.

In this article I wanted to share a similar program at His House that we do all those same things but with food from our local food shelf and local churches. ICA food shelf does a wonderful job of serving the needs of our community through food. Their mission “to offer hope as we provide assistance to our neighbors in need.” When ICA has perishable food products that have almost reached their expiration, His House picks them up and delivers it to local families that may not have been able to get to the food shelf.

Every other Saturday, His House volunteers share nearly expired or perishables at our Minnetonka store with 29 local families that have a barrier to food sustainability. It can be a single mom with small children without a reliable car, it can be a family where mom and dad are both working, and it can be a family that regularly go to the food shelf but need just a little more.

His House always assists people to get to the food shelf…we just want to share food that might be called waste (reclaim, repurpose, recover).
His House volunteers also pick up food at Mount Calvary and many local churches, “leftovers” from funerals or weddings. We immediately distribute these “leftovers” that day due to its expiration or being perishable. We notify our families that struggle with food security to meet us at our Minnetonka store. We open the store for free shopping and make sure the families that live in the margins have what they need.

Yes, we reclaim, recover, repurpose food from a funeral to a family of 7 that is hungry. Is that repurposing, reclaiming?
At His House we just call it sharing.