CHESTERFIELD-COLONIAL HEIGHTS ALLIANCE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
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Mission Statement
For nearly 30 years, CCHASM has met a critical need in this community: feeding its hungry neighbors, averting an individual or family financial crisis by tending to a small, unexpected expense and preparing an individual to (re)enter the workforce with appropriate clothing. Our clients are primarily the working poor who are often making choices between food or medication or housing or transportation to a job or paying the electric bill. These are untenable choices and CCHASM exists to assist these families through their crisis while also providing access to other community resources that can help them become stabilized. CCHASM fills a critical role in this community, and we do our work by operating as a true “Social Alliance” in partnership with more than 150 entities -- faith community, civic organizations, local businesses and individuals. In so doing, we are able to combine and leverage multiple resources, ensuring we don't duplicate services of other agencies or the faith based community.
About This Cause
CCHASM’s mission is to provide food, financial assistance, and career clothing to area residents who have experienced or are experiencing an emergency situation that threatens their survival needs. CCHASM carries out its mission of providing emergency assistance to area residents in Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Dinwiddie, Hopewell, Prince George, and Petersburg through Food Assistance, Financial Assistance, and a Women's Career Clothes Cottage, and a Thanksgiving Meal Program. The number of poor people in the United States is now the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty statistics have been published, and poverty in our community continues to grow. The poverty rate in our service area ranges from 9.9% in Prince George to 28.4% in Petersburg (the state average is 11.2%). For children living in poverty in our service area, the rate ranges from 12.3% in Price George to 43.0% in Petersburg (the state average is 15.0%). These statistics are critical to monitor because children who live in poverty are likely to suffer from poor nutrition during infancy, experience emotional distress, and have an increased risk for academic failure and teenage pregnancy. Adult men and women who live in poverty are at high risk of poor health, debilitating stress, and violence. Poverty can also affect seniors' ability to care for themselves or to obtain prescription medication. Hunger and access to clean, fresh and affordable food is one of the key social determinants of health. Addressing hunger in our community is essential because not addressing it has enormous and profound consequences that have an economic bearing on our local governments, healthcare costs, access to healthcare, our workforce and how we build/renovate our neighborhoods. Virginia has an 11.8% food insecurity rate, according to the Hunger in America 2016 study. That means that every day, 983,880 Virginians do not know where their next meal will come from (a 7% increase since 2014). Five of the localities we serve have higher food insecurity rates than the rest of Virginia (11.8) – Petersburg (28.1), Hopewell (19.3), Colonial Heights (11.9), Dinwiddie County (14.4) and Prince George County (13.3). Due to the continued unstable and uncertain economic climate, requests for CCHASM’s assistance continue to grow. With the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Plan (SNAP), and the unemployment rate in our service area still higher than the State’s average, we anticipate food assistance to families will continue to increase. In addition, we have found that some individuals who have donated to CCHASM and our Alliance Food Pantries in the past are now part of our client base and in need of our assistance. CCHASM is an essential agency in the local community that addresses the hunger component of these greater issues as well as provides some of the emergency financial assistance that will help stave off a greater crisis in the life of a family or individual. We carry out our mission through four primary programs: 1) Food Assistance: CCHASM's food assistance program is consistently our largest initiative and is designed to aid families and individuals who have experienced or are experiencing an emergency situation that limits their funds for essential items such as food. This program is intended to help stretch and supplement other resources such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP/Food stamps), WIC, and TANF. A CCHASM Client Service Administrator screens and schedules all clients for our 25 Alliance Food Pantries to decrease fraud and inappropriate use of the Food Pantries. For 2015-16 (fiscal year ended 6/30), CCHASM served 15,723 individuals (9,853 adults and 5,870 children). In addition, as special needs arise, such as requests for adult diapers, baby formula, etc., our food pantries are able to provide gift cards to clients to assist them in purchasing these particular necessities. 2) Financial Assistance: As funds are available, we provide monetary support for utilities, rent/mortgage, medicine, auto repair, and similar requests. This help is provided after the client has been screened and the emergency has been verified. All monies are paid directly to the vendor on behalf of a client. Through this program in FY20-21, CCHASM provided: Client Assistance - $2,973.08 Dinwiddie Client Assistance - $2,440.58 COVID-19 Financial Assistance - $29,655.27 3) Career Clothes Closet for Women: Many of CCHASM's clients are women who find themselves unexpectedly returning to the workplace, some for the first time. CCHASM provides "office-appropriate" clothing such as suits, pants, skirts, dresses, and shoes to those who need attire for an interview or for the first weeks of a new job. Women are referred to CCHASM directly and schedule appointments at the Clothes Closet. The clients are then able to "shop" free of charge for either interview clothing or a week's worth of office-appropriate garments. For the Clothes Closet, we assisted 179 women with an estimated value of $21,197 worth of clothing for FY20-21, shoes and accessories to enter or return to work. 4) Thanksgiving Meal Program: Individuals are referred to us by the Department of Social Services, and CCHASM provides meal packages to DSS, Mental Health Support Services and School Counselors and staff to distribute to families and individuals who do not have the ability to come to the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds and pick up their meal. The Thanksgiving Meal Package is a grocery bag filled with a predetermined amount of food (cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, etc.). Each package represents approximately $30 in value and then each family is given a $15 gift card for a local grocery store for perishable items such as turkey, butter, milk, etc. For Thanksgiving 2017, CCHASM assisted 9,105 individuals in 3,035 families, for a value of $136,575. Over 200 volunteers assisted with making this program a wonderful success. For Thanksgiving 2021 and amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, CCHASM served 9,405 individuals across 2,482 families for a total value of $99,280. In 2018, we will celebrate CCHASM’s 30-year anniversary. Much of our success is due to investors from throughout the community who see the value in our work and support our mission. We continue to have a strong working relationship with the Chesterfield / Colonial Heights Department of Social Services which has always had a non-voting position on our Board of Directors. This helps ensure stable partnerships and ensures that CDSS knows of our work and is able to refer clients to us or to our partners. Over time, we have grown our Alliance Members to include more than 150 faith-based groups working together to achieve our common mission and function under a guiding principle and value that “we are stronger together than we are apart.”