Our Commitment to the Community
As the needs in the community have changed, EHP has expanded the scope of its services to include:
Women’s and Children’s Support Group
Case Management
Children’s Resource Center
Holiday Food and Gift Distribution
Social Advocacy and Referral Services
Technology Access Point (TAP)
EHP serves families living in the Mid-Peninsula Bay Area. EHP is the largest supplier of emergency food and other essential relief on the Mid-Peninsula. Many families come to EHP with multiple needs. Through EHP’s case management program we are able to pioritize and address these problems in-depth providing both immediate and long term assistance essential for a family's success. EHP is known throughout the community for the individual attention it gives to each family it helps.
Emergency Food Assistance
EHP provides boxes of food to meet basic nutritional needs of families and individuals experiencing temporary emergency needs or special circumstances, such as long term illness. The food boxes are nutritionally balanced, containing vegetables, protein, grains and cereals, as well as canned goods. They are prepared with an understanding of the cultural and ethnic preferences of each family. In 2000, EHP distributed a total of 3,550 food boxes. A total of 7,235 unduplicated individuals were served. We were able to do this with a food budget of only $40,665, and we completed our last fiscal year under budget by $27,000. We are able to do this with the help of the food bank and the growing community support through food drives.
Monday Night Meal Program
EHP prepares and serves hot meals to individuals and families every Monday night at St. Francis of Assisi Church in East Palo Alto. Families and individuals alike are welcome to eat. Some are homeless, while others are clients who take advantage of this program to preserve the limited funds they have. St. Vincent de Paul works in collaboration with EHP. This program fed approximately 3,000 unduplicated people in 2000, two-thirds of whom were children.
Family Intake Program
Many come to EHP with multiple needs that require personal ongoing support as they go through the crises that have led to their poverty and hunger. As these needs have become more complex, EHP has implemented a Family Intake Program. EHP’s staff is then able to assist the client in addressing and prioritizing these problems in-depth, providing both immediate and 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 and Household Essentials
EHP distributes clothing, furniture, appliances and household essentials, such as blankets, sheets and dishes. Over 3,000 visits are made to the clothes closet yearly, serving over 10,000 people. 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 ad goodwill. The most common furniture requests are for beds and refrigerators. EHP also receives and distributes sofas, stoves, baby furniture, tables, etc. EHP is able to assist an average of 50 families each month with furniture or large appliances. At any given time there are 150-200 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, i.e., PG&E, health care, child care, employment, language skills and other social services. EHP works with other agencies in the community to facilitate access to critical resources.
Women’s Support Group
The Women’s Support Group began in 1989 as a way to develop support and leadership for women in the community. The approach used is re-evaluation or co-counseling, a nonhierarchical approach offering support and listening, with the goal of developing leadership from within the group. A core group of 8-10 women particpate weekly.
Technology Access Point
EHP is now an East Palo Alto TAP center. We currently house 10 pentium 4 HP computers with printer, scanner and fax. Hours are Monday through Friday 10am-5pm. We will also be holding computer training courses in the near future. Please call for more information or check our website for an updated schedule of events. For more information on the TAP center, please contact Resource Navigator, Maleah Choi at 650-323-7781 ext. 14 or email her at maleah@ehpcares.org. For more information on the various TAP resources in East Palo Alto, visit their website at www.epa.net/taps.
Children’s Resource Center
Back to School – we help our clients’ 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 our clients’ 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.
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 – graduation, appearance in a school play, etc. - 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. Sadly, we often provide similar support for children attending funerals.
Academic Mentoring – we plan to have a small, on-site academic and enrichment program that will serve 10-20 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 – children who are neither academic stars nor serious discipline problems, the children who 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 provide referrals, transportation (often a major stumbling block for our clients), sports or arts equipment, and scholarships for fees.