Mission:
Hands That Serve is a non-profit organization with a mission dedicated to providing concrete help and financial support to those in need. This support is dependant upon local businesses and individuals who want to give back to their community and ensure a brighter future for St. Louis.
Name Change:
Feed Your Soul-St. Louis has officially changed its name to Hands That Serve; this was initiated out of a desire to add more focus to our additional services of housing and education. Although feeding those in need is our primary focus, we also provide housing assistance to help keep people off the streets and in to a secure setting. Additionally, we work with our Community Colleges to provide scholarship assistance to those who are motivated to pursue an education in order to improve their life circumstances. We are hoping our new name expresses that we extend our hands more broadly to our brothers and sisters in need.
Corporate Sponsors:
Hands That Serve more accurately expresses our intention of acquiring more financial support from local businesses and individuals. At Hands That Serve we believe that giving people the opportunity to help others is as important as helping those in need. When we join hands with local business owners we can do more for our community. Our corporate sponsors welcome the chance to give back to the community that has helped bring them their success. They enjoy seeing exactly how their money is spent and the fact that this money is spent in the St. Louis area. Hands That Serve has no overhead and is able to give more than 98% directly to those who need it.
Generosity:
This year our attorney, web designer, logo designer and brochure designer all provided their services at no fee. We are overwhelmed by the generosity of our many benefactors. This generosity has enabled us to help so many more people in very profound ways.
Housing Program:
With the help of the Housing Resource Center (HRC), Hands That Serve has housed seven families. Single parents head all seven families. All make very modest incomes. HRC helps each family overcome its housing crisis, create and live within a realistic household budget, pay bills on time, and plan for the future. These families now have a better chance to work toward goals that promote lasting stability, such as obtaining a better job or pursuing additional education.
Contributions from Hands That Serve have been especially helpful to the HRC. Across our area, hundreds of families have been displaced from rental housing because the property in which they are living has been lost to foreclosure. The vast majority of these families have made their rent payments on time and taken good care of their unit. Often, they are given less than 30 days to vacate. It is extremely difficult to find a new place to live and save money for a security deposit on such short notice.
Hands That Serve’s funds have been invaluable in helping these and other near-homeless families weather troubled times, as witnessed by the following examples:
– P. N. is a single father raising four children, one of whom has special needs. One day, he returned home from work to find a mortgage company representative changing the lock on the door. Mr. N’s landlord had not made his mortgage payments, and the lender had foreclosed. Mr. N was shocked – he had never been notified of any problems, and he had made all his rent payments on time. HRC persuaded the mortgage company to allow the family to continue living in the house for a short time. Two weeks later, HRC helped Mr. N and his children move into a new rental home. Hands That Serve supplied funds for the security deposit.
– F. J. called HRC to ask for help with relocating. A victim of domestic violence, she had fled her apartment and was living temporarily with a friend. She did not want to go into shelter, if possible. HRC used Hands That Serve funds to provide a security deposit on a new rental unit for Ms. J and her two children. The family is doing well in the safety and security of their new surroundings.
Hands That Serve’s contributors can be assured that HRC spends their donations carefully on families who truly need decent, safe and affordable housing.
Scholarship Fund:
Hands That Serve allocated $5,000 worth of scholarship money to the St. Louis Community Colleges Allied Health Program.
One of our Scholarships was given to a single mother of two young children. She has been working as a Patient Care Tech at St. John’s Mercy Hospital. Due to the arduous clinicals required for the nursing program, she has had to cut back her work hours in order to keep up with her curriculum and maintain a 3.11 GPA. Thanks to the scholarship program she has the opportunity to improve her life circumstances and that of her children.
Feeding Program:
We continue to feed well over 200 of our areas homeless men and women each week at St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church in downtown St. Louis. Lunch includes two hot cheeseburgers, a bag of potato chips, a banana, a dessert and a glass of water. The cost of these lunches is approximately $615.00 each week, or $ 2660.00 each month. We have noticed a definite increase in the number of people coming for lunch on Fridays and Saturdays.
One of the many benefits of volunteering to hand out lunches is the chance to meet the people that you want to help face to face. Nothing compares to being there and the sense of satisfaction you receive from brightening someone’s day. One of our regular recipients recently told us that he dresses up in a suit and tie on the days that we serve cheeseburgers as a way of showing his gratitude for what we do. One of the staff at St. Vincent’s informed us that this man used to be a Neuro-Surgeon. You never know whom you might be serving and what their story might be.
Thank You:
Hands That Serve is grateful to offer local businesses the privilege of helping others through service and tithing. Our service to the St. Louis area has increased steadily since our humble beginning in 2003. We were founded by a great humanitarian, Grandmaster Choa Kok Sui, who taught us that hands joined in service can renew humanity.