Human services funder, the Allen P. and Josephine B. Green Foundation,
granted $2,500 to Heartland Independent Living Center to establish the Heartland
Care Closet.
The Heartland Care Closet will be one element of the Heartland
Community Resource Center. The program will provide essential household,
personal hygiene and first aid items to qualifying individuals. Heartland
serves individuals of varying ages with disabilities. Their current consumer
base is predominantly individuals with disabilities at or below 185% of the
federal poverty level. The Care Closet falls right in with Heartland’s
philosophy of caring for the “whole person” and by doing so promoting a
healthier, happier community.
Current plans are to implement the program in early 2015 once
procedures are in place, supplies are bought and adequate space has been built
to hold them.
“Heartland Independent Living Center has been working to establish a
‘Care Closet’ program for more than two years,” Executive Director Pat Chambers
said. “This program will provide individuals with disabilities, living on low
fixed incomes, with a few personal hygiene, laundry and household cleaning
products, allowing the consumer to have those much-needed items without having
to use funds they really need for rent, food, and medications.”
The Green Foundation’s funding primarily focuses on central and
eastern Missouri. Approximately 15% of their funding goes towards human
services. This funding will allow Heartland to purchase the initial inventory
of products and shelving to store the products. An estimated 1,200 people will
benefit from this service.
“We continually seek new ways to help individuals with disabilities,
and it’s exciting to establish a new service,” Tiffany Reid, Resource
Development Coordinator, said. “This seed money will allow us to assist with
some very basic human needs while furthering the Green Foundation’s mission to
improve the quality of the life for Missourians. I am thrilled that they have
granted our request.”
For further information contact Resource Development Coordinator
Tiffany Reid at 573-437-5100.