Vision: Helping Hand House is dedicated to preventing and ending family homelessness in Pierce County. Helping Hand House will develop and implement model programs and partner with community resources, to strengthen families with children while contributing to a healthier community.

Description:
Purpose: Helping Hand House provides programs and services for homeless families with children under the age of 18. Each of the programs provides an environment of dignity and respect supporting the family through the various stages of returning to self-sufficiency. As we work with the families we adhere to the philosophy of "If we give a person a fish they will eat today, if we teach them to fish, they will eat forever." Every component of the programs we offer is in harmony with our goal of restoring the family to self-sufficient life-style.

Principal Programs
Emergency Housing: provides participating families with their own completely furnished and equipped home. Our families come to us homeless and leave our program after 90 days with employment, money saved and the ability to move into their own market rate rental home. While in this home, the occupant pays no rent but is required to save money and develop a budget that supports their family.

*Transitional Housing: provides families who need more assistance with a longer-term place to live. During the families' stay they attend educational or training programs while also working. The residents in this program pay 30% of their income to the agency during their stay. We focus on education, maximizing income and first time homebuyer programs.

*Homeless Prevention: provides rental and/or utility assistance to families within Pierce County who have received eviction or shut off notices and who have minor children living in the home.

History:
Helping Hand House, founded in 1981, was brought to life through the determination and hard work of our founder and a local Lutheran Church. The agency began as a grassroots response to homeless families. In the first few years, 2 to 4 units were rented by volunteers and shared with families needing help. Initially, it was believed that the need would disappear in a short time. Unfortunately, the need did not disappear, but instead increased rapidly. The determination was made by the volunteers to make this an official organization. In 1984, the agency was incorporated and recognized as a 501(c)(3) and has been providing emergency housing and support services to homeless families for the past 22 years.

We are the only agency in Eastern Pierce County to provide emergency housing to homeless families and one of only two agencies in Eastern Pierce County to provide transitional housing to families. In the years between 1984 and 2000 we have served 930 families consisting of 3,500 individuals. In 2006, we served 367 families with housing and services in these programs. The primary focus of all of our services is to end the cycle of poverty and homelessness. We work on long-term independence tomorrow, not short-term survival today.

Contact person: Lisa Heintz, Volunteer Coordinator, (phone), (email)
Office fax number: (253) 770-1548

Address:

P. O. Box 710 Puyallup, WA 98371