EHP - Ecumenical Hunger Program

Ecumenical Hunger Program is the local area's solution to problems surrounding families in need. From emergency food and clothing assistance to children's resources, we provide everything needed to keep area parents and kids safe, healthy, and happy. This is your chance to do something good for your fellow citizen, so make it count!

Emergency Food Assistance
EHP provides boxes of food to meet basic nutritional needs of families, as well as to individuals experiencing temporary emergency needs or special circumstances, such as long-term illness. The food boxes are nutritionally balanced, containing protein, vegetables, grains, cereals, and canned goods. They are prepared with an understanding of the cultural and ethnic preferences of each family.

Monday Night Meal Program
EHP, along with the St. Vincent De Paul Society, prepares and serves hot meals to needy individuals and families every Monday night at St. Francis of Assisi Church in East Palo Alto. Some of those served are homeless, while others are families with children who take advantage of this program to conserve the limited funds they have.

Personal Support
Many clients come to EHP with multiple needs that require personal, ongoing support as they wrestle with the crises that have led to their poverty and hunger. As these needs have become more complex, EHP has implemented a case management program, which allows us to assist clients in addressing and prioritizing these problems in-depth, providing both the immediate and the long-term assistance essential for a family's success. This is a crucial element in the transition of client families from dependence on assistance to self-reliance.

Furniture, Clothing, & Household Essentials
EHP distributes clothing, furniture, appliances, and household essentials, such as blankets, sheets, and dishes. Annually, more than 4,000 visits are made and 10,000 clients served by our "Clothes Closet." All goods are donations from the community. This program matches the donated resources of the donors to the needs of the clients in an act of kindness and goodwill. The most common furniture requests are for beds and refrigerators. EHP also receives and distributes sofas, stoves, baby furniture, tables, and the like. We assist an average of 100 families each month with furniture or large appliances. At any given time, there are 150 to 200 families on a waiting list for essential goods and basic living needs.

Client Advocacy
Information and referral assistance are provided to clients seeking housing, financial assistance for basic needs (e.g., PG&E), health care, child care, employment, language skills, and other social services. We work with other agencies in the community to facilitate access to critical resources.

Children's Resource Center Programs
We help children get ready to start the school year in a positive way by providing fully stocked, new backpacks, shopping trips for school clothes and uniforms, and a new school shoes program.

Holiday Happiness
We help brighten holidays for children with a wonderful holiday party, a toy donation program, and a holiday family adoption program that meets many families' special holiday needs.

Crisis Referrals
Children often make our staff aware of crises in their families. We refer the children to support services for their own needs (e.g. counseling) and we make referrals for adult family members. This is a program we seek to expand, providing a wider range of referral options, transportation for children, and follow-ups.

Child Care Placements
We help our families solve urgent child care needs.

Celebrating Success
Our staff often learns of an important celebration for a child, such as a graduation or an appearance in a school play, that no adult is able to attend. Our staff attends the function to cheer the child on, sometimes providing a small check to mark a milestone in the child's life. This is a program we seek to expand, serving more children and publicizing their accomplishments. Sadly, we often provide similar support for children attending funerals.

Academic Mentoring
We have a small, on-site academic and enrichment program serving 10 to 20 middle school students. As the program grows, we plan to serve more children on-site and provide many more referrals for additional tutoring and mentoring, focusing particularly on the children in the middle who are neither academic stars nor serious discipline problems-these kids are most often ignored.

Health and Enrichment
As part of our intake and case management processes, we often become aware of a child's health needs or interests in enrichment activities (sports, arts, etc.). We would like to greatly expand our ability to provide referrals, transportation (often a major stumbling block for our clients), sports or arts equipment, and scholarships for fees.