VISION STATEMENT:
People are able to live quality lives built on financial security and overall well-being.
MISSION STATEMENT:
Instill a sense of hope by providing material and spiritual resources to help people make positive changes in their lives.
STRATEGY:
Meet immediate needs. Mitigate future needs. Make connections to other resources.
CORE VALUES:
Christ Centered ~ Relationship Building ~ Integrity / Accountability Developing ~ Grace / Compassion Sharing ~ Hope Encouraging
FOUNDING PILLARS:
Have a comprehensive knowledge of available resources and how to use them.
Develop relationships with people in need so more than a “Band-Aid” is applied to the problem.
Coordinate ministries and services offered by area churches and agencies.
Serve as an advocate for those in need.
HISTORY
Common Grace achieved its 501(c)3 nonprofit status on September 20, 1996 to benefit residents of Noble County who were experiencing financial crisis. At that time, three Christian churches in Eastern Noble County recognized the needs on the East side of the county were outpacing the abilities of single churches to meet those needs. They realized that people were going from one church to another, sometimes receiving assistance in several places for the same need. In order to meet the needs, more appropriately utilize limited resources, and create a way to build relationships with their neighbors, the churches joined forces and formed Common Grace establishing offices in Kendallville, Albion and Ligonier.
Following the achievement of the 501(c)3 status, Common Grace began to sponsor the Friendship Food Pantry. Furnishings of Faith operated when space allowed during that time. In 2013, it became clear that the organization needed to be restructured in order to abide by current nonprofit laws. A consultant was hired to assist with that process through the generosity of a private donor. The organization officially changed its name from Common Grace / Love INC to Common Grace Ministries, Inc. and all three ministries became ministry divisions of Common Grace Ministries, Inc. Furnishings of Faith received a name change to A Hope Chest giving the three ministries the opportunity to offer Friendship, Hope and Grace. In 2016, Friendship Food Pantry also received a name change to Friendship Connection, to reflect moving beyond a standard food pantry model to a place where neighbors can connect with one another, community resources and opportunities for personal growth. The mission of Common Grace Ministries, Inc. moved beyond solely meeting immediate needs to implementing strategies and opportunities to help neighbors mitigate future needs. The hope was that the entire community would be strengthened by investing in one family at a time to become more economically stable. The mission statement, core values, bylaws and articles of incorporation were all amended to accurately reflect the new direction and structure of Common Grace Ministries, Inc. The structure cleared the way to allow for new service opportunities in the future.
In August 2016, with the realization that Friendship Connection had been serving the same families for FOUR generations, the decision was made to move away from government resources so that a new way of ministry could begin. Many of the people who were coming to Common Grace had been coming for years. It was a hard realization that, without meaning to, Common Grace Ministries had been perpetuating poverty rather than working toward lasting solutions. Research began into ministry principles that would help those who live in poverty without creating long-term dependence upon CGM or other resources. Staff and board members read Toxic Charity, Charity Detox, and When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty without Hurting the Poor…and Yourself along with many other books about helping, without inadvertently hurting, our neighbors. The team learned that poverty is not about "stuff" and the practice of giving people “free” stuff was NOT a viable solution to their situations. It became crystal clear that all of Common Grace Ministries MUST build relationships with the neighbors who came for assistance. The journey began to open us up to understanding poverty through the eyes of our neighbors who experience it everyday. It did not take long to learn that this is NOT an easier way of doing ministry, but it is MOST CERTAINLY a better way. Everyone at Common Grace Ministries, from the board room to the staff to the volunteers, believe every person has talents, abilities, gifts, and skills to share with one another and with our community. When we take the time to build relationships and walk with our neighbors to create opportunities to use their talents, abilities, gifts and skills; we are giving them a hand UP rather than a hand OUT. Seeing the same people in line week after week and year after year is proof enough for us that one-way hand outs do not work to help our neighbors move out of poverty.
By December 2016, people around us began to realize something different was happening at CGM, so we held a New Way Workshop to help others understand what we were learning about true poverty alleviation and asset-based community development. Over time that led to the creation of Noble New Way, a community-led project team that is dedicated to the adoption and integration of asset-based community development (ABCD) throughout Noble County and beyond. We believe that, in order for our neighbors to remain strong and sustainable, the community in which they live must also do its best to put its assets to work. Our headlines highlight the deficits in the community much more than the assets, so we work to teach others across many sectors about the importance of looking for what’s strong, rather than what’s wrong. After all, you cannot fix a deficit with a deficit. You must use your assets to overcome deficits. To use them, you must first be able to see and engage them! We not only look for the assets in our community, but in every neighbor who comes to our door.
At A Hope Chest, we implemented a small processing fee and a delivery fee. While the fees cover only a very small portion of the cost of this ministry, our neighbors retain the dignity of providing for their family and the joy of paying it forward for the next neighbor. NOT ONE neighbor complained. In fact, people are happy to be able to provide for their families without having to receive a hand out.
At Common Grace, the Where Does Your Money Go program was implemented for EVERY neighbor who requests financial assistance every time they come. Many have never been exposed to a budget and have "money leaks" that cause them to fall short of their bills month after month. Our connectors help them come to their own conclusions about what constitutes a "want" versus a "need." It is also very common that the neighbor will be required to pay at least a part of their own bill, or will be asked to complete some other task that will help them to take a step toward economic health BEFORE we will assist with their bill. We provide numerous resources for our neighbors to begin to see light at the end of the tunnel. Little by little, we are seeing more neighbors budget.
At Friendship Connection, we implemented the ID and proof of address policy that had been in effect at A Hope Chest and Common Grace for some time. We also set our service area at Noble County residents who live in the 46755 zip code to reduce “pantry hopping.” All others are directed to the food pantry in their area. We also moved away from first come-first serve to a random draw system to reduce the issues we were having while people were lined up at the door. There were a number of reasons for these changes, with one of the reasons being long-term sustainability of this ministry. It was clear that some neighbors were not being honest about the number of people in their household in order to obtain more food. People were coming from as far away as Michigan and Ohio to shop in our food center. In order to continue to serve the neighbors in our service area, we had to make some changes. By doing away with first come-first serve and setting the policy of not arriving more than 15 minutes prior to shopping hours and no later than 15 minutes prior to closing time, we did away with the tussles that sometimes took place in the line at the door.
We were thrilled to see a 9.54% RISE in those 60 and older once these changes were made! We understand fixed incomes and by removing crowds of people and holding fast to rules about respectful behavior, our seasoned neighbors feel safe to come. Some are now volunteers! This also allows our resources to stretch so that those who really do need the help are now receiving more food (an average of 20-35# per person instead of only 8#!) We work hard to provide healthy choices for our neighbors and we expect our neighbors to respect that, and the staff and volunteers who work so hard to make things happen at the food center. We monitor and address issues related to food insecurity and work to provide a more nutritious and balanced selection of foods to promote overall well-being. In July 2018, we added heart-healthy, diabetic-friendly and gluten-free sections to our food center. We also planted our first garden and harvested fresh produce for the center. The garden has been a neighbor-led project, so we only have a garden when our neighbors step up to make it happen.
Friendship Connection collaborates with the Noble County food pantries by convening a food pantry collaboration. By staying connected, the food pantries have been able to share resources and ideas, in addition to supporting one another to make sure our Noble County Neighbors had access to healthy food. In 2022, we began producing a neighbor newsletter that includes physical, spiritual, mental and economic health topics. As we are able, we bring in nutritionists to help our neighbors put the foods in the food center to good use through nutritious cooking.
In addition to accountability, we require photo IDs to educate our neighbors about what documents are important and how to keep them readily available and yet secure. We even provide a water resistant document bag, including a list of documents required for work, housing and each of the major service agencies in the area. Having a valid, current photo ID is required for many social services, jobs, housing, and more. The barrier of NOT having that is one barrier we can help bust! We teach our neighbors about vital documents, keeping them safe and we help them through the process of obtaining current state issued IDs for all members of the household when needed. We are able to offer assistance in a number of ways in that process, including covering the cost if it is a hardship for them. Having a current ID and vital documents is a foundational step toward sustainability.
We value the talents, abilities, gifts and skills of every neighbor and we believe strongly in investing in them by providing resources to help them move beyond the need for services. Our goal is to teach not only the adults, but also the children who come. Sometimes these are hard lessons, but we love our neighbors and their children enough to do the hard work of changing years of one-way giving into an asset-based model that raises up our neighbors AND our community. Just as we hold ourselves accountable to our donors and the community, we hold our neighbors accountable to our policies of honesty and respectful behavior.
We all know that simply giving a fish is not enough. While we have been “teaching people to fish” for years, we now know THAT is not enough either. We have to answer the question, “What if the pond is toxic?” If we pay a bill for a person who is in a domestic violence situation and teach that person to budget, but send the person back to the abusive situation without addressing the risk for the person, then what have we really accomplished? In 2022, we spent the year focused on our founding pillar of advocacy to engage in the work of “cleaning up the toxic ponds” our neighbors encounter.
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: CGM joined the Noble County DV Task Force to learn how to recognize DV signs and respond in more effective ways.
HOUSING: CGM initiated conversations with Brightpoint in relation to increasing Section 42 housing in Noble County. CGM became a member of the Noble County Housing Coalition. Noble County became 1 of 3 pilot counties to address housing in collaboration with Indiana Legal Services and the Volunteer Lawyer Program through eviction intervention clinics. CGM was the Noble County agency for the pilot. This collaboration brought a housing kiosk to the Albion Public Library and continues to conduct eviction intervention clinics in partnership with Indiana Legal Services, The Volunteer Lawyer Program, the Noble County Court System and Noble County landlords.
MENTAL HEALTH: CGM joined the Noble County Mental Health Collaborative at the request of Parkview Noble Hospital. CGM is a key organization due to the resources provided and its experience with Asset-Based Community Development. Our director is 1 of 24 people trained to conduct Sequential Intercept Model (SIM) mapping in an effort to not only build a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) in Noble County, but to assist other counties with SIM mapping as they develop their own CIT throughout the state of Indiana.
REINTEGRATION FOLLOWING INCARCERATION: CGM welcomed law enforcement onto the board so that we can be a better partner in assisting those who are reintegrating into our community following incarceration. This consists of assisting with ID restoration and connecting them to local resources such as appropriate workplaces and housing ideas. We met with every law enforcement office in Noble County. In collaboration with Noble House, we created a Quick Resource Guide for law enforcement including the information they requested to have in hand. CGM achieved a grant to print in both English and Spanish. The guide is now being used by medical personnel, churches and schools in addition to law enforcement.
TRANSPORTATION: While CGM cannot solve the entire rural transportation issue, we ARE tackling one part of it. It is common to see families choosing between paying for a car repair and paying their rent, utilities or food bills. CGM has created a new ministry called Getting Started. We listened when our neighbors said they didn’t know who to trust to repair their car and they can’t pay a lump sum on a fixed income. Getting Started uses a network of assets in Noble County, including car repair shops, towing companies and parts stores. We are working with lending agencies; including banks, credit unions and Brightpoint to come along to potentially assist with attainable small loans rather than high-interest credit agreements or credit card debt. Employers are being encouraged to contribute Employee Assistance Funds when available, for their employees so they can continue to get to work. Phase I of this ministry (helping with small repairs) has been launched and Phase II (engaging lenders) is under development. Employers are approached on a case-by-case basis at the time of application.
We are proud to be part of True Charity Network, a national network that recognizes and supports organizations who are working to truly alleviate poverty through everything from boots on the ground to legislative chambers. We are blessed by our friends at The Chalmers Center, who taught us about Helping Without Hurting and how to design a ministry from the ground up through their Innovate program. We have so many community partners and friends that it is not possible to name them all here, but we thank God for each individual, church, business, organization, school and agency that teams up with us to go all out for our neighbors and our community. We have gone from three ministry divisions to five and we now have three full time and one part time staff. YOU have helped us make this all possible! We deeply appreciate your prayers and support as we do all we can to invest in our neighbors (and our community!) in the Name of Christ.