To our loving, supportive community:

I know many of you have kept us in your thoughts and prayers and are keeping posted on what’s happening by following us on social media. Thank you for your support.

As the Governor made an important decision to ask the state of Delaware to stop going to any nonessential location, Friendship House has had to wrestle with very difficult decisions. There are little to no options left for those who are experiencing homelessness. Almost every physical door has been closed to them. And, what pains me more, there are no known contingency plans for this group of deeply vulnerable people. They are invisible to so many.

Our staff are deeply dedicated to the Friendship House mission and unanimously have all agreed to do whatever is asked. There are not enough kind words for me to say about my colleagues. That said, we have made the following difficult decisions, keeping the safety of staff, volunteers, and our guests as our priority:

We are asking no one come onsite to any location unless approved by Friendship House staff. We are still accepting dinner donations from those already signed up for meals at Epiphany House and Andrew’s Place. We will come to meet you when you arrive and take the items in your behalf. Please know, we do not want you to prepare or bring us a meal if it requires an additional challenge for you. Please contact Kristen Reisor at kristen.reisor@friendshiphousede.org for questions and concerns.

Our Clothing Bank is closed until it is safe to reopen. Please do not bring any donations or place any orders at this time.

We will keep very minimal hours at our Wilmington and Newark Empowerment centers, while we close our MOT (Middletown) center temporarily. There are no services we are able to provide except coffee, food when possible, and to be a community touchpoint. We hope to open in Wilmington again Sunday morning for coffee and breakfast to go.

Our administrative office is closed and our staff will work from home, checking email and phones message remotely for every location. Please know it could take more than 24 hours to return a message – your patience is deeply appreciated.

It is truly humbling to experience something being experienced worldwide. I wish knowing we were not in this alone made me feel better. However, knowing millions of people are significantly struggling makes my heart ache more. Please continue to keep our state, nation, and world in your prayers.

I am monitoring my email regularly. Please feel free to email me with any questions or concerns: kim.eppehimer@friendshiphousede.org.

Your friend,

Kim Eppehimer
Executive Director
#AWayHome

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Friendship House is taking the coronavirus very seriously. We seek to minimize the spread of the virus, practice social distancing, and are looking out for the best interest of our staff, volunteers, and clients. Our staff has implemented protocol and we’ve made significant modification to our programming to insure the health and safety of all. Friendship House will remain open as long as we possibly can. Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, our clients were already vulnerable with access to limited resources. While all our locations remain open, modifications have been made to our programs to reduce interaction and the number of individuals at each location.

Administrative Offices: Our office remains open to staff only, we are not allowing any visitors or volunteers to this location at this time. Please call (302-652-8133) or email (info@friendshiphousede.org) us with any questions or concerns you may have. Our helpline (302-482-2271) remains accessible.

Wilmington Empowerment Center: WEC remains open Mon – Fri 7:00 am – 2:30 pm for bathrooms, hand washing, and case management. We will limit people in the center to no more than 10 people at a time. We are asking that no volunteers visit this site until further notice. For more information please call (302) 652-8033.

Newark Empowerment Center: NEC remains open Mon – Fri 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm for bathrooms, hand washing, and case management. As the City of Newark has restricted the number of individuals together at a social gathering to 10, Friendship House is abiding by these regulations. We will have no more than 10 individuals in the center at a time including staff, volunteers, and clients. We will only accept volunteers to offset staff at this time. For more information please call (302) 544-0165.

Middletown Empowerment Center: MOT remains open Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 9:00 am – 11:30 am for bathrooms, hand washing, and case management. We will limit people in the center to no more than 10 people at any time. For more information please call (302) 416-0982.

Clothing Bank: Clothing Bank remains open Mon – Thurs 7:00 am – 3:00 pm, they are still receiving orders and will attempt to fill orders as efficiently as possible. We are asking that all donations be dropped in the bin outside the warehouse. We are not accepting any volunteers at this location until further notice. If assistance is needed, please call the clothing bank at (302) 654-1390. We ask that agencies pick up their orders at the door. 

Sunday Morning Breakfast: We are asking that no volunteers attend until further notice. SsAM will be open 7am-8am this Sunday for restroom use. Hardboiled eggs will be distributed by Friendship House staff.

Transitional Housing: No new residents are being accepted and no visitors until further notice. Meals will continue at both Andrew’s Place and Epiphany House. We are asking volunteers to drop the meals curb-side style. For more information about dropping off meals, please contact Kristen at kristen.reisor@friendshiphousede.org or call (302) 652-8133.

Winter Sanctuary: Ended last weekend. Thank you to all who served with us!