Tours at Church Community Services showcase their resources and programs

ELKHART, Ind. -- An Elkhart non-profit is still working to enrich the lives of Michiana neighbors in need after two decades.

Church Community Services is shaking things up to expand its mission of empowerment.

The ultimate goal is to build secure futures by setting guests up for success.

More than 1,000 families a month are being fed here at Church Community Services on Oakland Avenue.

It is also helping to transform the lives of more than 300 women in the community.

Twenty years ago, 11 churches decided to establish one unified location to provide help to families in need and that’s how everything began.

Nine of those churches are still active.

The unique collaboration started off as a financial resource before branching out into a food pantry.

Now, it is a place where local women in need can come to restore their lives again.

Besides providing assistance, the goal is to build more secure futures by empowering guests, through coaching, life-skills training and even a job program called ‘Soup of Success’ which Executive Director Tom McArthur says is the best part of the job and what makes this food pantry so different.

“Transform themselves from being stuck in a life pattern to having all their dreams now come in front of them, we help transform their lives, so at the graduation ceremony after the 20-week program, there is hardly a dry eye in the house. It’s really rewarding and you know...you're doing something right,” McArthur said.

They are currently doing interviews for those interest in applying to the program and classes will begin in just a few weeks on August 23rd. 

They are also offering ‘I had no idea’ tours giving you a better taste of what all four programs are all about.

McArthur says most people don’t know everything they have to offer and that’s how the ‘I had no idea’ tours came about.

The four programs are Seed to Feed, Financial Services, Soup of Success and the Food Pantry.

Seed to Feed is a community gardening program where participants plant the food and anyone can stop by to pick some for themselves at the community garden.

Meanwhile, Financial Services aims to help those struggling to make ends meet, get back on their feet in addition with their food pantry that provides food goods to those in need. 

Soup of Success helps women build secure futures through coaching, life-skills training, job opportunities and more.

Tours are available in English on the first Thursday of every month at 10:30am and are held in Spanish on the third Thursday of every month- to reach the Hispanic and Latino communities.

“It means much more to be a Latina myself and then be here and say I’m helping pave the way within a great organization that is really well established and that does want to open their arms to the community that needs a lot of services,” Yolo Lopez DeMarco, Director of Community Outreach at Church Community Services said.

For more information about all services provided here at church community services, you can click here.