Causes: Homeless & Housing, Homeless Shelters
Mission: Bread of life ministries feeds the hungry, shelters the homeless, and provides services that help people change their lives and take personal responsibility. God calls us to minister to one another and assist those in need. Bread of life ministries (bolm) was started over 32 years ago by a handful of concerned and loving community members. They saw issues plaguing our community, they were struck by them and couldn't turn away from the outstretched hands of the hungry, homeless, broken and hurting. Bolm founder carolyn neighoff and six other families from her church gathered together in 1984 to purchase 157 water st. In augusta, the location where our soup kitchen still stands today. Out of the hearts of these community members and others from various churches and walks of life bolm was birthed. Bolm was born out of an important need to care for and love our neighbors. (matt. 25:35-40)
Programs: Bolm housing - bolm offers temporary and permanent housing in preparing clients for a stable and grounded life within the community. By offering clean, safe, affordable housing choices to clients, bolm can further facilitate their transition from homelessness to the local community and break what is often a cycle in life of both poverty and intermittent homelessness. Bolm has 83 units of housing in the augusta area. Many of these units are subsidized and carry voucher with them, which reduces the cost of rent for a family or single paying for that apartment.
shelter - started in 1986, the homeless shelter offers a warm, welcoming, and safe facility to those needing shelter. There are currently 26 family shelter beds, 12 veteran shelter beds and 83 units of housing. Currently we see a mix of families, couples, single parents with children, and singles. - the family shelter accommodates 26 beds and there are unique occasions where we will put someone on the couch for a special need. We commonly see 8,700 bed days per year for occupancy. This number comes from adding up the number of beds that are filled each night for a calendar year. - our veterans' shelter accommodates 12 beds and all beds are filled in collaboration with togus medical center homeless services. This means we cannot take veterans off the street and into the shelter without them first going through services at togus. We commonly see 4,000 bed nights per calendar year in the veterans shelter. - we have a total of 83 units of housing in the city of augusta and this is a combination of transitional, permanent and guest house/lodger accomodations. We have 42 units which are considered permanent housing and 17 units are identified as transitional housing apartments. We also have one building which is called a guest house/lodger and this building has 23 small units within it. Our current occupancy rate for our apartments runs between 90% and 93%.
soup kitchen - provides noontime meals to the hungry, case management and resource center. Provides counseling and other services to the homeless. The soup kitchen is more of a "full meal" kitchen in that it provides a complete, hot meal monday through saturday throughout the year. The soup kitchen offers a small, but welcoming space to anyone seeking a hot meal, no questions asked. One paid staff person oversees the kitchen with the help of hundreds of volunteers. We offer take home meals for those who are homebound or who are unable to enter the soup kitchen setting. Through generous food donations from businesses and the community, we are able to share our donated food with our shelters, other area food banks, church food cupboards and a partner shelter, the family violence project. The soup kitchen is open monday through saturday 11am to 12:30pm. Over 8,000 hours are volunteered each year helping with donation pickups, preparation, serving and cleaning. In 2017 bolm was able to provide over 33,000 high quality meals in our soup kitchen.
community support - the center for life skills is a key component in a guest's transition from homelessness to stability in the community. Started in 2005 with a focus on vocational job skills, it has evolved to a multifaceted training and educational source for our guests. The facility is set up to accommodate classroom training, small group sessions or individual internet use for job searches, housing searches, or access to other community services related to the transition from homelessness to stability. We are in the business of offering hope at bolm. Those who stay with us are connected to experienced case managers, who work with the whole person and the varying elements that have led them to homelessness. Every staff member at bolm plays a role in supporting success with each client, by helping them to complete housing applications, search for employment and apartments, develop new life skills, access care for both their mental and physical health and we cheerlead each and every success. Along with all of our services bolm also provides case management to the homeless in our area who are not currently in our shelter, in the form of outreach. This is done to fulfill the unmet need of those who we are unable to shelter. Case managers work to assess needs, as they would in the shelter and work to support as many of those needs as they can until they can enter the shelter or they are able to access housing. Bolm also supports the community through a benevolence program, which receives requests for many needs ranging from help with obtaining a birth certificate, to support with an apartment security deposit or the payment of an electric bill. When reviewing a benevolence request, we look to see if our contribution will immediately rectify and impact the problem at hand and help that person get back on their feet.
Mission: Bread of life ministries feeds the hungry, shelters the homeless, and provides services that help people change their lives and take personal responsibility. God calls us to minister to one another and assist those in need. Bread of life ministries (bolm) was started over 32 years ago by a handful of concerned and loving community members. They saw issues plaguing our community, they were struck by them and couldn't turn away from the outstretched hands of the hungry, homeless, broken and hurting. Bolm founder carolyn neighoff and six other families from her church gathered together in 1984 to purchase 157 water st. In augusta, the location where our soup kitchen still stands today. Out of the hearts of these community members and others from various churches and walks of life bolm was birthed. Bolm was born out of an important need to care for and love our neighbors. (matt. 25:35-40)
Programs: Bolm housing - bolm offers temporary and permanent housing in preparing clients for a stable and grounded life within the community. By offering clean, safe, affordable housing choices to clients, bolm can further facilitate their transition from homelessness to the local community and break what is often a cycle in life of both poverty and intermittent homelessness. Bolm has 83 units of housing in the augusta area. Many of these units are subsidized and carry voucher with them, which reduces the cost of rent for a family or single paying for that apartment.
shelter - started in 1986, the homeless shelter offers a warm, welcoming, and safe facility to those needing shelter. There are currently 26 family shelter beds, 12 veteran shelter beds and 83 units of housing. Currently we see a mix of families, couples, single parents with children, and singles. - the family shelter accommodates 26 beds and there are unique occasions where we will put someone on the couch for a special need. We commonly see 8,700 bed days per year for occupancy. This number comes from adding up the number of beds that are filled each night for a calendar year. - our veterans' shelter accommodates 12 beds and all beds are filled in collaboration with togus medical center homeless services. This means we cannot take veterans off the street and into the shelter without them first going through services at togus. We commonly see 4,000 bed nights per calendar year in the veterans shelter. - we have a total of 83 units of housing in the city of augusta and this is a combination of transitional, permanent and guest house/lodger accomodations. We have 42 units which are considered permanent housing and 17 units are identified as transitional housing apartments. We also have one building which is called a guest house/lodger and this building has 23 small units within it. Our current occupancy rate for our apartments runs between 90% and 93%.
soup kitchen - provides noontime meals to the hungry, case management and resource center. Provides counseling and other services to the homeless. The soup kitchen is more of a "full meal" kitchen in that it provides a complete, hot meal monday through saturday throughout the year. The soup kitchen offers a small, but welcoming space to anyone seeking a hot meal, no questions asked. One paid staff person oversees the kitchen with the help of hundreds of volunteers. We offer take home meals for those who are homebound or who are unable to enter the soup kitchen setting. Through generous food donations from businesses and the community, we are able to share our donated food with our shelters, other area food banks, church food cupboards and a partner shelter, the family violence project. The soup kitchen is open monday through saturday 11am to 12:30pm. Over 8,000 hours are volunteered each year helping with donation pickups, preparation, serving and cleaning. In 2017 bolm was able to provide over 33,000 high quality meals in our soup kitchen.
community support - the center for life skills is a key component in a guest's transition from homelessness to stability in the community. Started in 2005 with a focus on vocational job skills, it has evolved to a multifaceted training and educational source for our guests. The facility is set up to accommodate classroom training, small group sessions or individual internet use for job searches, housing searches, or access to other community services related to the transition from homelessness to stability. We are in the business of offering hope at bolm. Those who stay with us are connected to experienced case managers, who work with the whole person and the varying elements that have led them to homelessness. Every staff member at bolm plays a role in supporting success with each client, by helping them to complete housing applications, search for employment and apartments, develop new life skills, access care for both their mental and physical health and we cheerlead each and every success. Along with all of our services bolm also provides case management to the homeless in our area who are not currently in our shelter, in the form of outreach. This is done to fulfill the unmet need of those who we are unable to shelter. Case managers work to assess needs, as they would in the shelter and work to support as many of those needs as they can until they can enter the shelter or they are able to access housing. Bolm also supports the community through a benevolence program, which receives requests for many needs ranging from help with obtaining a birth certificate, to support with an apartment security deposit or the payment of an electric bill. When reviewing a benevolence request, we look to see if our contribution will immediately rectify and impact the problem at hand and help that person get back on their feet.
159 Water Street, Augusta, ME 04330
207-626-3434
Homeless & Housing
Augusta
