The Crossing provides love and support to individuals that are struggling with poverty, homelessness, and those exiting prison by offering non-judgmental support, assistance to meet their basic needs and a connection to local agencies that can further assist them. The Crossing is willing to take the hand of those in need and walk with them toward a higher level of self-sufficiency.
The Crossing provides opportunities for improve the employability of the under-served and re-entry population. The Crossing works to offer employment at different levels- from a day-laborer program to skills training through a pre-apprenticeship program, Home Builders’ Institute, a partnership with Habitat for Humanities. The Crossing assists individuals to understand and improve their “soft-skills” such as time management, appropriate clothing and hygiene so that they will be successful in the jobs they choose.
The Crossing works with local grocery stores to provide an outlet for food that the stores are not going to sell. The Crossing provides a truck and a truck driver to make daily visits to these stores and picks up the items. The food is taken to the Nutrition Center for sorting and distribution to the community. Individuals may receive a box of food every week.
Individuals exiting prison must have a home-plan that consists of a place to live. This can be with family or friends. They need to also find employment to be able to support themselves. This is a steep hill for them to climb, especially after being in prison for several years. The community changes, technology changes and often the families are not ready for reunification. The ex-offender often finds themselves staying at the homeless shelter when their home-plans are not successful, and they do not know how to take the next steps to self-sufficiency. The Crossing’s Re-entry Program works with the local prison to find candidates that would like to join the program. They ex-offenders who chose the 90-120 day program will have housing, food, and clothing while they work toward employment and an overall healing process for themselves and their families.
The Crossing’s Nutrition Center strives to eliminate hunger for the people they serve by providing weekly access to healthy food that includes produce, dairy, meat, and shelf-stable food at no cost. The Crossing is a partner with Second Harvest Food Bank. The Crossing provides a box of food for families based which will assist in stretching their food budget. The Crossing will also be starting cooking classes to educate people about creatively cooking food provided by the Nutrition Center. The Nutrition Center is also provides items such as basic hygiene, laundry detergent, feminine hygiene, and other supplies that cannot be purchased with Food Stamps when they are available through community donations. The Nutrition Center operates with 100% volunteers and needs volunteers to help support this program.
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