OUR CALLING INC
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Mission Statement
OurCalling is to glorify God by leading homeless people to Christ and by making disciples on the street.
About This Cause
Services Founded in 2009, OurCalling operates a facility where over 300-500 homeless men, women, and children come each day for food and support services necessary to survive and recover from a life on the streets. We operate a café serving free breakfasts and lunch, offer guests showers and laundry, and distribute clothing and personal products. Homeless guests are also connected with medical care, housing providers, mental health treatment, and a collaborative network of hundreds of referral services. Recently, three young men, ages 19-21, came to OurCalling for food. Staff learned the young men had been tricked into a human trafficking ring disguised as ‘traveling sales employment”. After seeing one of their friends get beat up, arrested, then abandoned, they ran away into the streets of Dallas, a city they had never been to before. Their first night on the street, someone told them about OurCalling. We helped them file a labor trafficking report, gave them a safe place to rest, and purchased bus tickets so the boys could return home to their families. We also have a "Search and Rescue" team that tracks the unsheltered homeless under bridges, in woods, behind liquor stores, in drug houses, and within abandoned buildings. We respond to homeless sightings as reported by 311 calls. Last year, we visited over 1,000 remote encampments, a 27% increase over the previous year. We provide spiritual guidance, distribute food and personal products, and help homeless individuals move into shelters, rehabilitation facilities, detox treatment centers, and diversion programs to reunite families. Recently, our team found a homeless woman in the woods who had gone into labor, provided assistance to a woman escaping domestic violence, and got medical care for a homeless man. All in one day. Our discipleship program provides on-the-job training for employment in commercial kitchens. These individuals learn kitchen management, how to store and distribute food, and study for the Food Handlers Certification test. They also take staff development classes, such as first aid. At the conclusion of the training, we provide these individuals with job references. We are currently building a Women's Center in our facility exclusively for female homeless guests. On average, an unsheltered homeless woman is assaulted once a week, and many of the women have an abusive homeless male counterpart. Our drop-in center will be managed by trauma-informed staff and volunteers, and partner agencies that offer women's services. The area will also be equipped with features that help provide an extra layer of protection for the women including escape routes, safe rooms, and a secured entrance with shatter-resistant glass. By isolating the women from the male population, we expect to see a significant increase in the number of women seeking refuge and in services provided. Building Transformative Relationships OurCalling has grown into a movement of people who are reaching out to the poor and the homeless every day. Last year, volunteers gave over 60,000 hours of service, valued at $1,481,400. Every program day, we utilize an average of 20 volunteers who further our mission and assist with the delivery of programs. Through volunteer assistance, we leverage $38 for every one dollar donated by the community. And, many of our volunteers make a financial contribution to the organization as well. Innovations are a very important part of how we create an environment for relationships to develop between our homeless guests and volunteers. In 2016, we developed a free phone app that includes a database of service providers in Dallas with over 250 resources available by location, category, and qualifications. Users can view listings on a map, or sort the list by distance from the user's location. The app includes contact information and registration criteria for healthcare services, addiction and recovery services, Alcoholics Anonymous and various life skill training opportunities, along with many other local services and resources including shelters, food pantries, and free meals. Last year, we launched the Homeless Services Collaboration and host monthly meetings to gather all homeless providers in Dallas along with city officials to discuss community trends and issues, and meet the needs of specific individuals who are not being served. Our goal is to further collaboration within the City of Dallas to discuss needs of the homeless, launch collective strategies to address the problems that the homeless face, and identify gaps in service for specific homeless individuals and families. Partners include Austin Street, The Bridge, CitySquare, Cornerstone Kitchen, Dallas Behavioral Healthcare, Dallas Life, DART, Family Gateway, Salvation Army, The Stewpot, Union Gospel Mission, and others. Our Impact Our mission is to walk beside our unsheltered friends as they navigate through their challenges. We teach Christian discipleship as the basis for long-term change and a pathway out of homelessness. We identify an average of 220 new homeless individuals each month, and receive 6,700 referrals for assistance each week. In an environment uniquely created for personal relationships, we equip our homeless friends to know God’s Word, experience healthy community, and develop strong relational skills to flourish within the community. Since healing is a process that occurs over time, we provide daily access to recovery opportunities. In 2018, our 1:1 interactions with the unsheltered homeless increased by almost 40 percent. We held 884 classes, and witnessed over 80 percent increase in class attendance. We also received 312 tons of food donations, and were blessed by 2,000 new volunteers.