By SARA PANAG
More often than not homeless shelters and soup kitchens serve the basic needs of the people coming in, and then the people continue on their way.
But there are places that believe in doing more, places that are making a difference for those who come in needing the bare necessities. The Food and Care Coalition of Utah Valley is such a place.
The coalition's mission statement, as stated in its annual report, 'is to build trusting relationships, find suitable housing, teach financial accountability, facilitate an elevation on personal morals and values, and become a center of needed resources.'
What is important to the coalition, after having served the basic needs of clients, is to develop a relationship with them to show them someone cares. Mentors, through guidance, help get clients out of their present situation and onto a better one.
Brent Crane, executive director of the Food and Care Coalition, refers to the people who come to the coalition as 'clients' or 'patrons.'
The coalition provides services common to shelters, except it is not a shelter. It is a resource for food, hygiene, laundry and functions of day-to-day living for the clients.
It is difficult to make a general category for those who come in, but the coalition has kept statistics, Crane said. According to the coalition's statistical categories, 33 percent of the clientele are under 17, 35 percent are 18-35 and 32 percent are older than 35.
Families make up 38 percent and the homeless make up 52 percent.
About 65 percent have a high school diploma or GED. The clients' average annual household income is $6,591.
'We provide services which are very conducive to developing a relationship with our clientele,' Crane said.
Crane said the coalition provides the necessities to maintain human dignity. They provide these services in a down-to-earth manner for the clients.
Volunteers come in and serve the clientele, and in turn, the clientele serve by helping keep the facility clean.
Before a meal is served, a dinner bell is rung and either a volunteer or a client reads a thought to the group. Because of this, the behavior in the dining room is good, Crane said. Everyone helps out and is treated as who they are and not what they are, Crane said.
The coalition is 'a community savings which the community can rely upon when it needs,' said Maria Zanandrea, board member of the Food and Care Coalition and associate professor of physical education at BYU.
She has seen the coalition grow from a one-woman-operated soup kitchen in the late 1970s to a staffed learning and training agency. Those who work during the day can come in later to receive training for a better job.
Crane said it takes time to make a difference, because until basic needs such as food and shelter have been met it is difficult for the person, trying to survive from day-to-day, to be receptive about being educated on how to move on to the next step.
The coalition does more than provide the basic necessities, said Ralph Holding, coordinator of the Mentor Advocacy Program. In the near future there will be a literacy and English-as-a-Second Language labs along with job. The MAP takes clients from living day-to-day to integrating them back into society.
'MAP is based on need,' Holding said, 'We work with clients who've been here a while.'
Crane said that too often, government welfare is dehumanizing. Welfare services also concentrate on catching those trying to take advantage of the system, spending less time on those needing real help, Crane said.
Zanandrea said funds for the coalition come from grants, so clients needing a meal do not have to fill out paperwork and wait to see if they are qualified.
'There comes a time in life when one needs help,' Zanandrea said. 'They need it now, not later in the week. Our objective is to help those in need now.'
What clients appreciate most is being able to keep their pride and dignity and asking for help at the same time, Zanandrea said.
Zanandrea said when she is finished serving as a board member, she said she would go back to doing what she did before becoming a board member -- being a volunteer.
Crane said the coalition creates an atmosphere of 'us together,' rather than a 'me versus them' mentality, and for the most part the 'welfare system is unfriendly.'
'I guess we see what we want to see, and if we want to see the good we see the good; if we want to see the bad, we see the bad,' Crane said.