PHONE: 515-967-4533
EMAIL: caringhands@q.com
Food Pantry EMAIL: ccfoodpantry@live.com
SERVICE #1:
Food Pantry
The Food Pantry assists Southeast Polk residents with food and limited help with utilities or rent. It's new location is 201 9th St NE Altoona IA 50009. Telephone # is 967-4533
The food pantry is open:
Mondays and Wednesdays from 4:00 - 6:00 p.m.
And the 1st and 3rd Saturday's 9:00 am to 11:00 am
Opportunities to help include: interviewing clients, preparing boxes, carrying
boxes to client's vehicle, or
making food/monetary donations. Contact Larry O'Connor at 967-4533 for more
information or to volunteer.
Caring Hands is pleased to lease space in its new Altoona building for the
Clothes Hanger, which is a program of Southeast Polk Community School
District and Central Place. This partnership helps provide a convenient and
wide range of services to those in need from eastern Polk County.
The Clothes Hanger is open to serve people living in the Southeast Polk
district (or having children attending school in the district) or
Bondurant-Farrar with free clothing and small household items. Families must
provide proof of address by bringing in a piece of current mail with their
address or utility bill (parents of open-enrolled students will be verified
through Central Place). All homeless students enrolled in Southeast Polk
schools will be immediately eligible. All information is kept confidential!
Families are able to visit the Clothes Hanger once each month. Hours are
Mondays and Wednesdays from 5-8 p.m., and the first and third Saturdays from
9-11 a.m. Donations are accepted during any time the shop is open.
In
February of 2006, the Clothes Hanger welcomed a new volunteer coordinator,
Cheryl McBride. Her responsibilities include scheduling community volunteers
to be present during the hours the shop is open, picking up weekly donations
(of overstock items) from Wal-Mart, and ensuring the myriad of donations are
sorted and arranged for easy access to visiting individuals and families.
Funding for the Clothes Hanger is provided by Polk County Community
Betterment funds, the City of Altoona, City of Pleasant Hill, Prairie
Meadows and individual donors. The Southeast Polk Community School District
provides in-kind support. Wal-Mart and community members provide donations
of clothing and small household goods.
SERVICE #3:
"Kids" Café
Registration: coming in the spring of 2010
Dates: Tuesday and Thursday July 15th to August 11th
Time: 11:00 am.12:30 pm
Location: Mitchellville Elementary
Volunteers: If you are interested in playing games, reading stories, making crafts or serving/making lunches for kids...this is the volunteer opportunity for you. Kids love to see familiar faces so sign up for one day or sign up for them all! Call Elaine Collet 266-6795 to volunteer or if you have any other questions.
Volunteer Orientation Dates: to be determined at Mitchellville Elementary.
Art
activities, games, books, food and more – what else could a child ask for? These
things and more can be found at the sixth year of Kid's Café and its companion
program Wednesday Meals & More.
Similar to previous years, the program includes
a nutritious hot lunch for all eight weeks of the program. Students also get a
chance to participate in literacy activities that revolve around a book theme.
The curriculum for the literacy activities is created by a retired Southeast
Polk teacher/current Runnells Elementary Teacher's Aide, Ruth Johnson and a
Southeast Polk community member and Ankeny kindergarten teacher who has been a
long time volunteer with Kid's Café, Amy Skarin. They will develop
lesson plans for each of the eight sessions.
The goal the first year was to provide lower income children with nutritious
lunches and an opportunity to develop positive relationships with adults.
However, now, the target audience is not just lower income children, but all
children! We believe any child can benefit from positive interaction with an
adult. Kid's Cafe at Mitchellville Elementary is open to any Southeast Polk
family, and Meals & More at King's Broadway Trailer Court is available to all
residents of that community.
In 2009, a total of 286 participants took part in Kids Cafe. The cost for last
summer's Kid's Cafe was $6,792.07 or approximately $23.75 Per participant.
Caring Hands Outreach Center needs your help to keep this vital ministry going
for 2010. Please consider donating time or money to this worthy cause.
SERVICE#4:
Southeast Polk Children’s Clinic
is a service provided by Central Place
Southeast Polk children and youth between the ages of birth and 21 years are eligible to be seen free of charge at the Southeast Polk Children’s Clinic.
The clinic is open on Tuesday afternoons, at
Christ the King Lutheran Church and is staffed by community volunteers and a pediatric nurse practitioner from Blank Children’s Hospital. To make an appointment call the Central Place office at 515-266-6795
Children are seen for sports, school, and camp physicals; well child exams; immunizations; acute care; and screenings relevant to enrollment in Head Start or preschool. Families do not need insurance and no insurance is filed.
Funding for the clinic was provided by Polk County Empowerment
SERVICE #5:
Transportation