Eight Ways of Supporting Our Ministry

Through Prayer:

If Friendship House is to fulfill its mission of treating clients "as persons rather than problems", we who minister must always and everywhere find the face of Christ in each person whom we serve. It is not enough that we believe it in our heads; we must also live it in our hearts. Such a life is impossible without prayer. Unfortunately, centering ourselves in prayer is too often lost in the busiest of survival and problem-solving. A very special way of supporting the ministry of Friendship House is to pray daily for a specific client or staff person. The power of such prayer cannot be underestimated. It sustains the weary and sanctifies the most baneful of tasks. Without words, it reminds us that God is the Author of our life, that every interaction is a blessing and that the Holy Spirit is at work this day in each of us, weaving His Kingdom Dream.

If you are willing to carry a Friendship house client or staff member in prayer, contact Bill Perkins (Men's Ministry) or Marcy Perkins (Women's Ministry) or Linda Harrison or Pat Burrows (Clothing Bank Ministry).

Through Personal Service:

From its beginning, Friendship House has always been sustained and enlivened by a corps of dedicated volunteers. Today over one thousand men, women and children volunteer each year at Friendship House.

Of special value are those volunteers who make a weekly or monthly commitment of their time to a specific Friendship House ministry. Without this support, the Friendship House staff would be overwhelmed by the ever growing demand for their time and services. This supplemental volunteer staff also translates to thousands of dollars of savings in personnel costs each year for Friendship House. Listed below are some examples of these individual and group volunteer positions:

The Day Centers: Weekly commitment of a minimum of 2 to 4 hours . Most volunteer duties involve the Center’s hospitality and home base ministries: welcoming new clients, getting clients’ mail, helping them make phone calls, letting them into their lockers, etc. The Day Centers typically see over 200 homeless people each day.

The Clothing Bank: Weekly commitment of a minimum of 2 to 4 hours. Most needed are: drivers to deliver clothing orders, mentors to work with Clothing Bank interns and office help to process donation slips.

Andrew’s Place: Weekly or monthly commitment of 2 to 3 hours. Each evening a different team of two to six volunteers bring supper for the 22 residents. On weekends, especially, individual volunteers are also needed to assist John Owens during the admission period 3:30 – 6:30 PM.

Women’s Housing Program: Monthly commitment of 2 to 4 hours. Most needed are: drivers to take people grocery shopping one evening a week; GED mentors; handy persons able to do minor house repairs and maintenance. Several churches prefer to commit to annual work days that are able to address larger maintenance projects.

Men’s Housing Program: Monthly commitment of 2 to 4 hours. Most needed are: participants in the Fatherhood Group Sessions; mentors for GED and budgeting; handy persons able to do minor house repairs and maintenance. Several churches prefer to commit to annual work days that are able to address larger maintenance projects.

If you are interested in volunteering at Friendship House in any way, please visit the volunteer section of this web site.

Through In Kind Donations:

While all donations are welcomed, the gift of items that Friendship House would otherwise have to purchase are especially appreciated. Friendship House currently spends about $2,000 a month purchasing supplies for its various ministries. Were it not for in-kind donations, this cost would be even higher. Several churches and organizations hold monthly collections of donated items for a special ministry. Others sponsor annual drives that target a certain item, e.g. a paper drive or a coffee drive. A typical monthly supply list for each program includes:

Day Centers:

• 100 lbs of coffee
• 200 lbs. of sugar
• 64 giant jars of creamer
• 1,000 tea bags
• 6,000 6 oz. foam cups
• 400 rolls of toilet paper
• 36 packs of c-fold paper towels
• 300 45 gallon black plastic trash bags
• 12 cans of disinfectant spray
• 4 gallons of disinfectant cleaner

Sunday Morning Breakfast:

• 12 gallons of fruit juice
• 12 large cans of mixed fruit
• 10 lbs of coffee
• 200 tea bags
• 10 giant jars of creamer
• 40 lbs of sugar
• 600 8 inch paper plates
• 1,500 6 oz. foam cups
• 500 4 oz. foam cups
• 600 paper napkins
• 500 plastic forks
• 500 plastic spoons

Clothing Bank:

• 30 rolls of toilet paper
• 200 8oz. Foam cups
• 500 30 gallon 6mil. black plastic trash bags (used for clothing orders and storage)
• 10 rolls of 1 inch masking tape

Andrew’s Place:

• 25 lbs of coffee
• 30 giant jars of creamer
• 40 lbs of sugar
• 200 tea bags
• 30 45 gal. trash bags
• 800 8 inch foam plates
• 800 6 inch foam plates
• 900 plastic forks
• 900 plastic knives
• 1,200 plastic spoons
• 1,000 8 oz. foam cups
• 1,000 paper napkins
• 100 rolls of toilet paper
• 6 cans of disinfectant spray
• 2 gallons of disinfectant cleaner
• 10 cans of shower cleaner
• 100 lbs of laundry powder

Housing Programs:

• 24 large bottles of laundry detergent
• 24 bottles of dish detergent
• 7 gallons of disinfectant cleaner
• 14 cans of shower cleaner
• 300 13 gallon trash bags
• 250 rolls of toilet paper
• 250 rolls of paper towels

Through Fund Raising:

Friendship House does not typically sponsor a major fund raising event each year. Its most successful general fund raisers are its two appeal letters – The Mother’s Day Garden Appeal in April and The Fall Appeal in November. To make the Spring and Fall Appeals more successful, Friendship House needs its board members and volunteers to:

• Help keep the Friendship House mailing list up-to-date
  • Checking addresses
  • Making sure that it includes all current FH volunteers
• Supply the names and addresses of potential donors
• Add a personal note on the appeal letters going to friends, fellow church members, co-worker or acquaintances

In addition to these standbys, however, a number of community sponsors have hosted their own fundraising events to support Friendship House ministries. Their scope have ranged from Wilson Somer's 2001 Mass For The Homeless and Trinity Episcopal Church’s 2004 Benefit for Ashford House to a bake sale by twenty-four children of the Brandywine Valley Montessori School. Recent examples include:

• St. Mark’s United Methodist Church’s 2006 Spring Tea, an afternoon of music & finger food, that generated $1,300.
• Head of Christiana Presbyterian Church’s 5K Run, which raises about $5,000 annually and is divided among the church’s five outreach ministries, including Friendship House.

To sponsor a fund raiser to benefit Friendship House, board members and/or volunteers should:

• Notify Friendship House and secure its approval in advance to sponsor a fund raiser in its name
• Coordinate its efforts with the Friendship House office, thereby insuring no scheduling conflicts and maximizing advertisement

Through Designated United Way Giving:

Individuals can designate Friendship House to receive their United Way donation at work. Although Friendship House is not a United Way agency, Delawareans can make a United Way pledge to Friendship House by using the code 9033. Maryland residents may do the same things by writing in the following address:

Friendship House, Inc.
P.O. Box 1517
Wilmington, DE 19899

Each August, before the start of the United Way campaign in Delaware, Friendship House mails a postcard reminder to everyone on the Friendship House mailing list from the Tri-state area. To promote designated United Way giving to Friendship House, a person can:

• Submit names and addresses to be added to the Friendship House mailing list for the United Way mailing
• Get additional United Way information postcards from Friendship House to share with neighbors, co-workers and friends
• Since many organizations do not allow direct solicitation for a particular human service organization, clear any promotional campaign in advance with one’s employer or pastor.

Through Stock Donations:

Donating stock to Friendship House is a very simple process. A person contacts his or her broker with instructions to transfer by DTC 0226 the number of shares to Friendship House, Inc., Wilmington Brokerage Account 009343242, Wilmington Brokerage Service Company. After making the transaction, the donor or the broker should contact the Friendship House office (302-652-8133) so that it can instruct Wilmington Brokerage to sell the stock and transfer the funds into the Friendship House Money Market Savings Account. The value of each tax deductible stock donation is based on the market value of the stock at the time of transfer.

Through Corporate Grants and Matching Funds:

Most businesses give to those humanitarian causes where their employees are passionately involved. This corporate giving can take several forms:

Matching Funds:

Many businesses will match the cash donations of their employees to their favorite charity. People making cash donations to Friendship House should always inquire whether their company has such a matching grant program. Companies that have sent Friendship House matching funds include JP Morgan Chase Bank, Verizon and Delmarva Power.

Acknowledgment Grants:

Each year Friendship House receives one or two grants from corporations in recognition of the volunteer service that one of their employees has provided to our ministry. Sometimes it has been the result of a human service award that the employee has won within his or her company. In other cases, however, the grant has come from the company’s community outreach funds that are available upon request.

Employee-generated Grants:

Most corporations have grant foundations that can be accessed directly by non-profit agencies. An increasing number of companies also administer grant programs that are linked to their employees’ community involvement. These grant programs only accept program grant proposals from employees on the behalf of the human services agencies where they volunteer. Last year, more than half the corporate funding received by Friendship House originated from such employee generated grants. To submit a Friendship House grant proposal to one’s employer, a person should:

• Contact one’s supervisor or the company’s community outreach person about the availability of community grant money, the grant program criteria and the application process.
• Meet with the Friendship House resource team, who will prepare an appropriate grant proposal with attachments.
• Submit the proposal through the appropriate corporate channels.
• Serve as an advocate and liaison person between the company and Friendship House.

Through Grants From Private Foundations:

Friendship House is constantly looking for small family or church foundations willing to fund some part of its ministry to the homeless. To operate an excellent homeless program that meets a foundation’s grant criteria, however, is often not enough to win a grant. Nor is it enough to produce a clear concise grant proposal that addresses all the foundation’s goals and objectives. With so many grant proposals to consider, the administrators of many private foundations often rely on personal recommendations from people they know and trust. Over the years Friendship House has been fortunate to have many friends and supporters willing to advocate for its ministry with friends and acquaintances who are also private foundation board directors. Because of this and an exemplary twenty year ministry track record, Friendship House has been a regular recipient of grants from several local private foundations, including the Longwood Foundation, the Welfare Foundation, the Chichester Foundation, the Laffey-McHugh Foundation, the Jessie Ball duPont Foundation, the Delaware Community Foundation, the Ashford Family Foundation, the Crystal Trust, the Borkee–Hagley Foundation, the Armand G Erpf Foundation, the Ederic Foundation, the Debley Foundation, the Lawton Trust and the Speer Trust.

Anyone who has personal contacts with members of a private foundation that funds human service work and is willing to advocate with that foundation on Friendship House’s behalf should:

• Arrange a meeting between the foundation contact and Bill Perkins, executive director of Friendship House. If possible, include a tour of the Friendship House ministries.
• Explore what areas of Friendship House ministry best fit the foundation’s criteria
• If appropriate, acquire a grant application
• After the Friendship House resource team has produced a proposal, submit the proposal with a personal cover letter to the foundation. Include a copy of the proposal to one’s contact and ask for their support
• Be willing to serve as a liaison between the foundation and the Friendship House resource team