Programs
Clear scope, clear limits. Everything below is delivered by trained volunteers from our Magazine Street office in Lansing.
Our pantry is open to any household in the service area, twice per calendar month, with no referral required. Boxes are packed for the household as it actually is — a single older adult does not receive the same box as a family of six.
Pantry hours: Tuesday 10:00–15:00, Thursday 12:00–18:00, Saturday of the second week 9:00–12:00.
One-time grants intended to interrupt a crisis, not to underwrite an ongoing shortfall. Funds are never handed to the applicant; they are paid to the landlord, the utility or the vendor directly.
What we cannot fund: mortgage principal, legal fees, fines, vehicle purchase, medical procedures, or arrears older than 90 days. We will still refer you onward if we cannot help.
The heart of the conference. Two volunteers visit, usually for about an hour, and leave with a written plan the household keeps a copy of. Navigation frequently matters more than money: an unclaimed benefit is worth more over a year than any grant we can write.
Collection runs from 1 October to 20 November each year at Magazine Street and eleven partner drop-off points. Distribution begins the first week of November and continues while stock lasts. In 2025 we distributed 612 coats, 340 pairs of boots and 480 blankets.
Most needed: children’s sizes 4–12, men’s XL and above, waterproof boots.
Assembled each August against grade-specific lists supplied by Lansing School District social workers, so nothing arrives that a child cannot use. Packs include a backpack, supplies, a lunch container and a $20 clothing voucher redeemable at two local retailers.
2025: 388 packs delivered across 14 schools.
Beds, tables, cookware and small appliances for households leaving shelter or transitional housing. Stock is limited and demand outstrips supply, so the waiting list is honest rather than optimistic — typically three to five weeks.
A weekly call for isolated older adults on our register. It is not a formal welfare service; it is a friendly voice on Wednesday morning and a volunteer who notices when something is wrong.
Call us and describe the situation in your own words. Sorting it out is our job, not yours.
