Religious Efforts to Assist and Care for the Homeless (Reach), was formed in 1990 by three humble people that recognized a need to assist the impoverished in our community. The Reach founders dedicated their time and resources to a dedicated 24-Hour Crisis Intervention program that was and is still today facilitated totally by trained volunteers.
- 1996: The Cold Weather Shelter was opened because of a gap in services for the homeless of our community.
- 2003: The Day Resource Center was initiated and organized from a need in the community for daytime homeless services and a walk-in center in the winter and later in extreme heat.
- 2006: The Day Resource Center was expanded to year-round for individuals and families in need of information and referral services, laundry facilities, phone and mail service, human service and health organization representation, and financial assistance for individual and family crisis needs.
- 2010: Reach began offering case management services to individuals staying in the Cold Weather Shelter to assist them in creating and implementing plans that would move them out of the shelter and into more permanent housing.
- 2014: Reach added the Open Table program which helps a family or individual accomplish life goals with the help of dedicated volunteers for one year. The idea is to support the Open Table “brother or sister” to sustainable self-sufficiency. To date, Reach has facilitated 8 such tables.
- 2015: Reach added a Success Coach to teach financial education classes and lead the county wide Financial Education Partnership. As the years have progressed, we have expanded our safety net services to include services that help our clientele develop and become self-sustaining.
