Churches to open Community Resource Center in Rehoboth

Cape Region churches are opening a new community center in Rehoboth Beach, a centralized location where they will offer help to those in need.

The Lewes-Rehoboth Association of Churches (LRAC) and Faith United Methodist Church have teamed up to open the Community Resource Center. Slated to open in March, the center is in the Fellowship Hall on Oyster House Road.

The center will be a place where people can receive help with heat, fuel and food bills, said Bennett Connelly, who is coordinating the project. Services will also include budgeting and finance classes, employment counseling, housing, health screening and social services delivered by state and local agencies, he said.

Trained volunteers will assess clients’ needs and refer them to programs and agencies that can help them, Connelly said.

LRAC and its 17 member churches already offer assistance to help prevent crisis homelessness, said Connelly. But, organizers hope the center will become a hub in the Cape Region, the focal point for aid distribution and an education and outreach center for the region’s working poor.

Various church and secular organizations will work out of the same building.

“We’re trying to consolidate a variety of services in one area,” said Mary King, who represents St. Peter’s Episcopal Church on the LRAC board of directors. People now have to call multiple churches and multiple organizations in different locations. It can be frustrating and can also lead to duplication of services, she said.

Keeping track of need

Connelly, who retired from Maryland where he was director of human services for St. Mary’s County, said state figures about homeless people are inaccurate and there must be a better system to keep track of the need.

He said there are 126 students in the Cape Henlopen School District who meet the federal definition of homeless – they are not living with their parents or guardians in their own homes. “They’re not necessarily homeless; they’re not on the street or under bridges,” he said. He called for a better system of tracking people in need.

Many in the area are working poor, not homeless, and need assistance, he said.

“I think what we’re finding is folks are losing hours because the economy is weak, and the economic challenges of a seasonal economy,” Connelly said.

“The working poor don’t make enough to pay all their expenses, whether they’ve had a crisis, lost hours, or were laid off,” Connelly said.

LRAC currently helps more than 400 families a year, Connelly said.

“We will provide other organizations a place to provide services,” Connelly said. “We think with this center we can reach 600 to 700 with more resources. The goal is to connect with the needs of the client and find ways to provide what they need.”

Connelly said in developing the Community Resource Center, LRAC is networking with key organizations in the area, including the Delaware State Service Center in Georgetown, First State Community Action Agency, United Way, and La Red, a health organization from Georgetown. He said Beebe Medical Center has also expressed an interest in having a presence in the center.

Trained volunteers at the center will mentor and coach those seeking assistance and follow up with them.

Solutions within the community

For King said, “This is part of the new wave of community taking care of its own.” She said it’s essential because the federal government is proposing cutting funding for these services.

The Community Resource Center is working with many volunteers from various professions. “We have people from all experiences and backgrounds to help make this work,” she said.

Connelly said in the face of decreasing state and federal aid, “We want to be ahead of the curve a bit – making a place for people to go and a place for us to identify the need in a more coordinated fashion.”

“You can’t put a Band-Aid on it and give aid – you need to mentor, watch and counsel, provide budgeting classes,” said Connelly. The center will offer a variety of classes including budgeting and financial management, and will be a place where people can come for professional help.

“People can come here for financial assistance and for help to better manage their bills,” Connelly said.

Connelly said center organizers hope to offer family nights, with dinner provided, during which parents can take classes while their children do homework or other activities.

The center is working very closely with Delaware State Service Center in Georgetown, said King. That center is the starting place for those seeking help from state and federal aid programs, including emergency financial aid and food stamps. People who don’t qualify for those programs are often referred to LRAC, King said. King said it’s hard for people from the eastern side of the county to get to the service center, especially when they lack transportation.

While LRAC provides bus passes to help people get to the Georgetown service center, this plan, ideally, brings the center closer to the people in need, she said. Down the road, Connelly said, LRAC wants to determine where else people go for assistance, and invite those groups to join the Community Resource Center.

Funding the center will provide will come from LRAC’s New Life Thrift Shop, King said.

Connelly said LRAC gives about $300,000 to its outreach arm, Lend-A-Hand, and more money to other organizations.

Lend-A-Hand’s volunteer board assesses requests for emergency financial aid; organizers say the board will now meet with people at the Community Resource Center, instead of traveling for meetings.