I first met Robert (featured in this Newsletter) when he arrived at the New Castle County Hope Center. Robert is a very kind, loving man. He made many friends while at the Hope Center – from staff to other residents there. It was easy to see this, even underneath the immense fear and anxiety he was feeling as he experienced homelessness. It is overwhelming to be in a position where you need to rely on a shelter system. And, unfortunately, wrought with judgment. At FH, we prioritize seeing the person underneath the fear and pain, and leave judgment aside. Our goal with all of our programming is to help someone feel grace, acceptance, respect, compassion and love any time they are in our presence. The most important thing to us is every person knows they matter. Every person deserves to love, be loved and feel loved.

This makes FH unique in how we approach working with people in our community. We truly believe loving someone also means believing the person coming to us for services deserves every opportunity to choose their own path forward, name their own goals, and be an active part of the journey forward. Our staff often share what a relief it is to work for an organization that so frequently says “yes, we can help.”

We said yes a lot this year. We said yes to 14 households who lost their housing overnight due to a neglectful landlord in Wilmington by providing necessary funding to fill a severe gap. We said yes when we purchased a new house for women who work at our Clothing Bank exiting incarceration and do not have a safe place to live. We said yes when we partnered with the Delaware State Service Centers to support over 400 households losing their emergency housing pandemic funding, which officially made us a statewide agency. We said yes by giving more than 10,000 clothing items to schools for students who needed additional help to meet the schools’ dress code. We worked with 150 people to break down legal issues preventing them from accessing housing and employment – saying yes, we can help while saying no to the injustices of fees placed on people who cannot afford to pay them. We said yes to assisting 2,000 people stay housed by helping them fill their income gap by paying necessary rent or utility bills.

Now, we need you to say yes. This kind of work does not happen without your support. 100% of our funding comes from you – individual donors, business owners, faith communities, foundations: loving, supportive people who care about their community. Please consider an end of year donation to Friendship House so we can continue helping people find their way home. Through your donation you are lovingly saying yes to someone in your community.

Kim, Executive Director