Last night, East End Cooperative Ministry (EECM) learned of a water advisory affecting our neighborhood. Over 100,000 Pittsburgh residents are currently under this advisory and in an abundance of caution are being asked to flush and boil water before drinking, making ice, washing dishes, brushing teeth and food preparation. EECM took immediate action to ensure that our services remain open, accessible, and safe for our community. Our community lunch is available as normal, packed in bags with fresh bottled water for anyone in need. We thank the volunteers every day, but especially today to ensure uninterrupted service to our community. East End Cooperative Ministry is pleased to be partnering with Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank to distribute clean water to those in need. We will be working together to ensure access to clean water to the affected neighborhoods and anyone in need is encouraged to utilize this resource. EECM will be accepting donations of bottled water from anyone with the ability to give. We will be open for both collection and distribution this weekend, February 2-5, 2017 at the following times: Thursday- Friday from 8:30AM-4:30PM and 7:00-9:00PM & Saturday-Sunday from 10:00AM-4:00PM. Additionally, EECM is offering free community meals this Saturday and Sunday, February 4-5, from 12:00-1:00PM. It is our mission and 47 year legacy to respond to community needs with opportunities and resources. The community kitchen serves hot lunches every Monday through Friday, from 12:15 to 1:00PM. This community meal is provided free of charge to all who are in need, although donations are welcomed! Anyone in need of a meal, clean water, or more information is welcomed to join us. Location: Collection and distribution will both be available on the loading dock on Harvard Street. The Community Kitchen and free meals are available through Entrance G next to the parking lot. (6140 Station Street).

Our entire community is cordially invited to the 33rd annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration sponsored by East End Cooperative Ministry in Honor of Dr. King and held at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Admission is free, and everyone in the Pittsburgh area is cordially invited to attend. Donations of canned goods or other non-perishable food for the EECM Food Pantry are strongly encouraged and will be collected at the door. Click here to view the official event flyer Sunday, January 15, 2017 Music begins 3:30pm | Service at 4:00pm Pittsburgh Theological Seminary Chapel 616 North Highland Avenue Pittsburgh 15206. Parking available directly behind the chapel.

2014 Annual Report

Visit Community House during the month of February to drop off your unopened bags of diapers. EECM is partnering with Western Pennsylvania Diaper Bank during their Burgh Baby Diaper Drive. Donated diapers will be distributed free to families in need throughout the region. Winter poses many challenges to families in need. When paychecks are used for utilities, such as the gas bill, less is available for personal care items, like diapers. Show your support to the babies in our community by making your donation of unopened diapers in the big blue bin at the main foyer of Community House. Sizes 4, 5, and 6 are the most in-demand sizes of diapers. Donations will be accepted through February 28th.

Our spring newsletter will be coming to a mail box near you in the next week, but here you can get the first look! Read a letter from our new Executive Director introducing himself to you, the EECM community, as well as stories featuring Summer Day Camp, our Work Therapy program – and much more!

We are excited to announce that EECM is an official partner charity of the Dick’s Sporting Good Pittsburgh Marathon! Join our marathon team and you receive free entrance to the race, a personal Crowdfunding page, tons of support from EECM, and other goodies that will be announced soon  – all of this just for doing a little fundraising for us! Details will be shared soon about the team, full benefits, and fundraising requirements. As part of the team, you can run in the full marathon, half marathon, or in the relay – any event you choose benefits EECM, our clients, and programs. What’s your reason? Sheltering the homeless? Feeding the hungry? Educating and empowering our children and youth? Lace up, stretch out, get a great playlist, and run for a reason – EECM!  Contact shannona@eecm.org to join the team and find out more information. Visit our Crowdrise Site to sign up: https://www.crowdrise.com/EECMPittsburgh2016/fundraiser/eecm

We live in a world where, unfortunately, inner-city youth mature too soon. Negative influences surround our children in their everyday lives – in their neighborhood, in their school, and at home. This generation of urban youth is developing a severe attitude of apathy. They live life as if they may not see tomorrow, without understanding what is truly valuable in life or the opportunities that could be available to them. Every summer, EECM’s Reach Out to City Kids (ROCK) Campaign raises funds and awareness for our Children & Youth Programs. These programs impact the lives of nearly 600 youth every year through academic and personal support and recreational programs. Donations made between July 15 and August 31 will make a real difference throughout the year to EECM’s Children & Youth programs. EECM’s Children & Youth Programs are about saving urban, at-risk youth from the effects of struggling families, broken communities, violence, drugs, alcohol and other addictions, and the many other plagues facing our East End communities. With your support, we strive to instill hope, purpose and self-worth so that youth become their best selves in spite of the challenges that are common in our urban neighborhoods. Our staff tirelessly works to show the youth in our neighborhoods ways that they can build a brighter future for themselves and their families. They help high school boys and girls to understand the importance of taking ownership of themselves and their futures in our PHYSED (Points of Healthy Sustainability, Engagement, and Development) Program. Through Project L-5 (Lifting, Learning, Literacy, Life, and Love) and ExtraOrdinary Tutoring, they help students of all ages achieve in school and go on to be successful in college or in careers. During in- and after-school programs, Summer Day Camp, Hoop-It-Up basketball tournament, or Take Our Sons & Daughters to Work Day, our staff serves as mentors and teaches confidence, work ethic, responsibility, and respect. But, we couldn’t do any of this without the support of our dedicated volunteers and supporters – that’s YOU! Find out more about our Children & Youth programs and learn about ways you can make an impact in a child’s life by volunteering! Let’s make this summer ROCK and helps our youth build a community of opportunity for themselves!

The City of Pittsburgh has officially changed Penn Circle back to the original, historical names of the streets as part of the reversal of the urban renewal projects of the 1960s. The new, official address for Community House is now: 6140 Station Street, Pittsburgh, 15206. Check out the full list of changes: Penn Circle S → Centre Ave Penn Circle W → N/S Euclid Ave Penn Circle N → Station St Penn Circle E → Centre Ave Rural St remains as-is Station St remains as-is Collins St (between Station St and East Liberty Blvd) → Centre Ave Collins St (north of East Liberty Blvd) remains as-is Negley Run Blvd remains as-is #contact #EECM

We would truly be lost without our volunteers, and we are extremely grateful for each one. The members of Temple Sinai – a member of EECM’s Council of Congregations – are active volunteers in EECM’s programs. Their volunteer efforts are coordinated through Temple Sinai’s Tikkun Olam Center for Social Justice. Temple Sinai members work regularly in EECM’s Food Pantry and also serve the evening meal at the Men’s Emergency Shelter. Below are a few first-person accounts of their experiences. Serving Dinner at the Men’s Shelter “I have volunteered to cook and serve dinner for homeless men at the shelter in East Liberty for many years now. I am always proud of the truly delicious and high quality food we serve at these meals – food we ourselves would and do enjoy eating. I particularly enjoy the community of Sinai members who help out at the shelter, and who often bring along their children to help serve the meal. Working at the shelter I have met congregants I would have not otherwise known and have enjoyed their energy and infectious good spirits. Volunteering there I am touched and a little embarrassed by the gratitude of the men we serve. I have talked to several over the years about their life stories and how they came to be at the shelter. Although many suffer from some form of mental illness, some have told me exciting stories of life on the road, or in one case, life on the river, working on tow boats. I know afterwards I always feel grateful that I have a home of my own and a close family to rely on, and that I have enough to be able to share with these men who have neither.” ~ Peggy Fried Packing Food at the EECM Food Pantry “Harry Back [Temple Sinai’s Council of Congregations representative] called me one day last spring and asked me if I could possibly ‘fill in’ at EECM, as they were short one volunteer. I immediately agreed, and have been volunteering at the East End Cooperative Ministry Food Pantry ever since. I am so glad I did. Besides contributing to our community, I have made new friends who just happen to be volunteers and fellow Temple Sinai members! Each week for about two hours, I sort items and then pack up bags of groceries for people whose families are in immediate need of emergency groceries and supplies. It is a minor physical chore that puts food on the tables of some not-so-fortunate families. I enjoy packing the grocery bags, communicating with the others at EECM and helping people in need. Occasionally, EECM needs extra workers for their daily soup kitchen, so being right there makes it easy to volunteer my time to the soup kitchen as well.” ~ Debra Mendelson Many thanks to the volunteers of Temple Sinai for all that you do! #tempesinai #volunteerspotlight

As we prepared to move into Community House last November, our staff saw the opportunity to do things differently in our programs. For example, we are shifting our focus to provide more than simply a bed or a meal. We want to help the people in our community become self-sufficient and break the cycle of dependency on social services. Essentially, we want to make it so that people don’t need agencies like EECM any more. To that end, we have renamed our Housing Services I.M.P.A.C.T.S (Individuals Making Progress and Change Toward Self-Sufficiency), grouped all of our residential, adult education and employment programs under this umbrella, and added a new component – Work Therapy. The I.M.P.A.C.T.S. Program encompasses all of EECM’s services designed to help individuals move toward self-sufficiency, including our educational, employment, and residential programs. Our case managers and volunteers help individuals break the cycle of addiction, poverty and homelessness by giving them access to the resources they need to achieve their goals. Many of the people we see in our East End neighborhoods have struggled throughout their lives with barriers which have prevented their keeping consistent and gainful employment. These barriers include mental health issues, substance use disorders, chronic poverty, lack of education, and incarceration. Kellie Wild, IMPACTS Programs Director, and her staff saw this as an opportunity to make a new impact and meet these needs in our community. The two biggest additions to EECM are the adult education and employment programs and our Work Therapy program. EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS WORK THERAPY offers individuals the opportunity gain both hard and soft job skills. The goal of work therapy is to create an environment where one can overcome their personal barriers to learn, grow and move towards a level of self-sufficiency that permits living as a contributing member to the community. Employment leads to improved self-esteem, hope, and relationships and correlates with decreased illegal activity, physical problems, and homelessness. The programs you think of when you think of our Housing Programs still exist, almost exactly as they did before we called them IMPACTS Programs. We still have some beds on the second floor of Community House specifically for Emergency Shelter, for men and women (!) who are looking for overnight shelter. We also have several 4-person suites for a Short-Stay housing program, where men and women can stay for up to 6 months while they work with our staff on a personalized plan to help them become more independent and self-sufficient. FAITH, Bridge, Safe Haven, and PennFree Housing Programs are still running, off-site, and just the way they always have been. The name change from Housing to IMPACTS just signifies that all of these programs are seeking to do more than just give shelter, but help our neighbors find their way back to a more independent and self-supporting life in our community. Coming soon Community Connections Center Reading and Math Classes Computer and Life Skills Training Resume and Job Interview Workshops #eecmhousingprogram #impacts

EECM’s annual coat distribution will be 10:00a.m.-4:00p.m. on Friday, October 26 and 10:00a.m.-4:00p.m. on Saturday, October 27th at Community House, 6140 Station Street, East Liberty.  Please enter through Entrance (B), on Harvard St.  Contact Tracy Hudson 412-345-7124 for more information. Share the Warmth 2018

It’s the season of GIVING. GIVE them food…GIVE them shelter…GIVE them hope.  Donate today.  #givingtuesday