Creating New Beginnings by Fulfilling Basic Needs

Amidst the countless number of people in crisis around the world, those that are hungry and homeless each day, it can be easy to overlook those who are closest to our own doors, in our own neighborhoods.  In fact, read about our recent crisis averted - no items on food bank shelves - in August 2007.

At Volunteers of America Basic Needs, providing services, such as food, housing, emergency items and life skills classes, is a vital part of our daily mission to reach, serve, uplift, and empower individuals, families, and communities.

Amazing things can happen when you have hope

Amazing things happen when families, adults, and children have a safe and affordable roof over their heads, nutritional and balanced food on their table, and a plan to work through current struggles toward a better life. When you have a place to call HOME, when you are not distracted by simply surviving, problems suddenly become easier to overcome, tension among family members decreases and life in general has hope.

That’s what happened to Mischelle Benham of Marysville.  Like anyone, Mischelle never planned on being without a home. But when she and her two teenage children became homeless due an intense domestic violence and drug-related situation, she realized they had nowhere to go but her car, without food, without a phone, without most everything.. She called shelter after shelter after shelter. She was told that she and her daughter could not be housed with her teenage son - he was too much risk. She was given the option to split up, or continue to sleep together in their car. It took a split-second to decide separation was NOT an option.  And now, on top of everything, she had a son wondering what was wrong with him.

Then, just as she was about to give up and return to that awful situation, emergency shelter opened up at Volunteers of America.  It didn’t take long before Mischelle, together with support from transitional housing staff, the food bank and other basic needs resources, set goals to move her family’s life forward, and alongside her children - in very short order - achieved each one.