Our Mission
The mission of Food and Shelter is to provide food, housing and emergency services to people in crisis in order to make Cleveland County a better place to live. Our mission is very simple; we believe no person can be successful in bettering themselves and living to their fullest potential if they are hungry and worried constantly about where they will sleep. The services we provide are the most basic needs of a human being. They come for food and shelter. They leave with friends, a support system, and acceptance. They leave feeling like they belong somewhere.
About Food and Shelter, Inc
Imagine looking out your office window and seeing men, women and children pulling food out of your trash container. Imagine families with no place to call home and children who cannot enroll in school because they have no address. This is exactly what inspired our founding members to build a solution to hunger and homelessness in Norman. Food and Shelter started as a once-per-week lunch for homeless and hungry people and has since grown to be a fully operational soup kitchen and shelter program.
For nearly 30 years, Food and Shelter has been feeding women, children and men who are hungry and housing families in crisis. Food and Shelter are core components of our services and something we believe to be basic human rights of every individual in our community. We serve the most indigent residents of our community many of which live on no income or are extremely below the poverty line relying on disability income.
Our food program is second to none in Cleveland County. Hundreds of women, children and men rely on Food and Shelter for their daily nutrition. We serve breakfast and lunch 6 days per week to any person who is hungry. On average we serve 250 meals per day. In 2010, we served over 31,000 meals. On top of this, we provide food baskets to hungry families who may have to choose between buying food and paying rent. We distribute 10 to 12 food boxes per week totaling over 600 boxes of food per year. In April of 2011, we began surveying our dining room guests to have a better understanding of their needs. One thing we learned is 66 out of 66 of respondents had no idea where they would find food if they did not have Food and Shelter to provide for them. We are their chance at survival.
The Shelter component of Food and Shelter is a multi-faceted program; we provide short term, long-term and supportive housing for homeless individuals and families. We own and operate a transitional housing program where families with children can live for up to 2 years with the care and support of a case manager to empower and encourage them to build stronger, healthier families. We provide housing for mentally-ill, homeless adults with the support of a case manager to ensure they maintain stable, healthy lifestyles. Because we do not have facilities for emergency shelter, we provide homeless families emergency placement through motel stays. In 2010, we assisted over 270 people with emergency placement in a motel. We also operate a non-residential housing program as a contract agency of the City of Norman. We provide housing assistance to the working poor in order to prevent homelessness in Norman. This program helped 589 families in 2010 avoid an eviction leading to homelessness. This is combined with a program to prevent utility cut-off during months of extreme weather funded through other grant makers.
In whole, we consider our place in the community to be a centralized location for the homeless in Norman to go when they are in need. Every other agency in Norman relies on Food and Shelter to help their clients. We are the one place homeless families turn in crisis and serve more homeless individuals and families than any other organization in Norman. It is certain, Food and Shelter is a great gift to our community.
Our Le Tour de Vin Project
With the proceeds from Le Tour de Vin, Food and Shelter plans to build 4 to 6 living units to provide more emergency shelter to homeless families. Currently, Food and Shelter offers motel stays as a solution to homelessness. This is both expensive and inefficient. With the addition of emergency shelter units on our current campus, we will both save funds, expand the quality of services we can provide to homeless families and better serve our community.
For more information about Food and Shelter, visit our website www.foodandshelterinc.org or call (405) 360-4954.
