Help Center has new location

The Help Center held its open house on May 16 at its new location, located at 426 Big Horn Street, the former site of Hope Agency. 

Ron Philips, the priest from the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, who oversees the Help Center, described why they made the move to their new building saying, “What has happened is we’ve grown. There is a greater need in the community for services like ours. We help people with rent utilities. We do food boxes. We provide computer access, copies, faxing, that kind of thing. And the one thing that we were doing that just grew leaps and bounds was the GED program.”

The Help Center was previously located at Common Ground, but the need for their service dramatically increased. Philips said, “We were seeing more and more people. We started partnering with Youth Alternatives and Barb Rice for the GED Program and the program went from three or four students to about 16 or 18. Then we were looking at, oh, my goodness, what are we going to do? We were offered this building by the Hope Agency. We jumped at the opportunity. The Common Ground building is now a learning center, and they’ve expanded to cover the whole footprint we had there on the ground floor.”

Regarding what will be happening now at the new location, Philips said, “There are several things. Part of the building will be the Help Center doing what we’ve always done, you know, helping people with difficulties. And I always say when people come in wanting help with their rent, for example, we don’t have any money, but we do know where federal funds, grant funds, and things like that are so we can apply for them.”Philips described a scenario of some of the people they serve and said, “Here’s what happens. You’re trying to put together $500 or $600 to pay your rent. Well, here’s an agency out here that you’ve found, heard of, or seen on the Internet or whatever that will help you with your rent. So you can get a hold of them and they say, well, just get online to our website. And then what you need to do is scan in these documents and fill out this form and send it to me. So where’s your computer? Oh, and you need a scanner. Oh, and you need to be able to wander your way through the forms and get them right.”

Philips added, “What we do is when people come in and say, okay, you probably fit under this program over here, so we’ll get on their website. And do the form. We’ve worn out four printers and scanners over the eight years we’ve been here just scanning documents. Well, you need the lease agreement, sometimes 16 pages long. We get all the documents scanned in and we fill out the application form.”

However, the Help Center in their new location will also help other programs, such as the Backpack Program. Philips said, “That whole operation was run in the basement of the Episcopal Church. They were storing food in Sunday school rooms and packing backpacks in the basement hallway. With the new building, we’ve got space to take in that program. And we’re right across the street from the school and that works well.”

“And one other program, I shouldn’t just say it’s the Episcopal Church, because The Community Church runs Coats for Kids. One of their issues is they don’t have enough space to store the coats and so forth that they need to have on hand. Well, we had some room left after we moved in. So now they’ve got a room in the building as well, right across the street from the elementary school.”

Philips went on to say about the Episcopal Church’s People for People program “The other thing is we’ve got a full kitchen and commons, and people are liable to ask why the third program from the Episcopal Church, which is People for People, the Sunday Meals on Wheels program is not coming over. Well, the kitchen at the church is a licensed kitchen. The one we have at the Help Center is not. So it’s not coming over. The kitchen at the Help Center is not a commercial kitchen. The People for People program will stay at the Episcopal Church. The Backpack Program and the Help Center will come down and the Coats for Kids from the Community Church.” The new location for the Help Center also has a commons area where Philips will curate art exhibits. Philips continued and said, “I see people that come in the door that do art. We will offer exhibition space in our commons. We started with our grand opening last week. We had Kyle Braaten, a local artist, exhibited his paintings, and we’ll leave them up for two or three weeks. And then I’ve got a couple of other people who are very good. They just don’t have the opportunity to show their work.” 

Philips added, “In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, what about people who knit or do needlepoint or make jewelry, something like that? Where are they going to exhibit their work or where are they going to show it off? That’s the people that I want to come into that commons area that don’t get that chance. So that’s what we’re doing.”

The Help Center receives fairly sizable funding and grants from the Episcopal Diocese that enables its operation to continue. Philips said, “We wouldn’t be open if it wasn’t for them.” Philips also expresses his gratitude to the Hope Agency for allowing them to occupy the building. One of the many benefits of the new location is the space, and it is easier to unload and upload the trucks and go up the ramp. In their previous location, they had to navigate steep, narrow stairs hauling heavy boxes. 

Regarding the future of the Help Center and what to anticipate, Philips said, “We’re going into our eighth year. We’ve been around a few years and I don’t see our mission changing that much except with the building allowing us to expand. That being said, I see our mission expanding because there’s just more and more need. We dealt with COVID and after COVID, prices are well…we see a constant increase in prices of everything. Rentals are just, if you can find one, what used to be $350, $400, and it’s now $650. It’s getting tougher to meet the need. My wife Audrey and I were volunteers, but there are people around, Barb Rice, of course, is involved, and Judy Carswell. And there are other people in the background that are working. You just don’t see their name as much.”

The Help Center’s current hours of operation are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from noon until 3 p.m. They can be reached at 864-3322. However, they may change their hours in the future depending on the community’s needs.