Friendly House is entirely a part of the Worcester community. The Friendly House doors are often propped open, and community members utilize the center daily. The agency has been open for 86 years. Friendly House has about 16 established programs, including housing, youth involvement programs, and elder programs. There are approximately 30 full-time and 20 part-time staff working on these programs combined. The amount of services and programs that Friendly House provides to the community is truly amazing. On a yearly basis, the Friendly house serves over 20 thousand families in their programs.

The most prevalent barriers that they see introducing families to homelessness is the lack of affordable housing, the rising cost of utilities, and the loss of jobs. They also acknowledge the recent struggles of the middle income group, and how they are often caught in the middle because they do not qualify for most programs. Josephina Velez JOB who works in the housing program says that policy wise, she would “change the way money is distributed to communities and people”. She argues that there needs to be an increase in Food stamps, the number of jobs and wages, and more Section 8 vouchers made available. But, overall, the biggest change needed is more affordable housing for families. Sabrina St. Martin sees the need for affordable, good quality child care.

Housing Programs and Services to Families

Friendly house currently provides housing and services to approximately 46 families in three different programs. There are scattered sites in the community that house 18 families, the Friendly House foundation houses 15 families, and the family shelter on Elm St. houses 13 families. They have a hotel/motel program that is emergency only for families to get immediate aid, and they stay briefly before being referred to another program. Friendly House is in the process of making more housing for about 10 families on Cottage St.

Families living in the transitional housing and the shelters can utilize Friendly House’s daily food pantry, clothing, and limited transportation to alternate services. The food bank at Friendly House follows USDA regulations, and is need-based. It is inter-neighborhood, and provides appropriate aid to low and moderate income families.

About 90% of all services that a family needs are filled by Friendly House, such as the notarization of CORI forms, housing/ welfare advocacy, document translation, and some immigration services. The goal of the housing programs at Friendly House is to get families on their feet to buy their own homes and achieving an income level in order to maintain housing.

Youth Programs

Friendly House’s after school program is for ages 6-12 from 1:30 to 5:30pm and provides snack and a hot dinner all for $20 a month. The teen program runs from 4:30 to 8:00 pm and also provides dinner. Both programs include educational instruction, arts and crafts, computer access, homework help, and gym time. Depending on the day, between 50 and 100 youths come in to the community center. The gym is open at night until 8:00, and about 100 youths will come play basketball. The meals are prepared in the kitchen of the Friendly House, and are balanced and healthy.

From November through March, Friendly House runs a “Youthhoop/ Biddy Basketball League” in the evenings and Saturday mornings. There are well attended parties held at Halloween and Christmas for youths with games, food, and other activities. Sabrina St. Martin, the Director of Child Care Services at Friendly House says that the best part about her day is in the afternoon when all of the kids come from school, “the rest of my day could’ve been awful, but once the kids come, the focus is on them, and it makes everyone in the office so happy”. There are youths that attend these programs for years, and some become counselors for the younger kids.

Friendly House also runs a summer program that delivers lunches and snacks to 20 sites all over Worcester each day. They understand that when schools are closed, families still depend on these meals. As a result, their programs are year round, and all youth activities have extended hours for school vacations and snow days, from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm, and provide breakfast, snack, and lunch.

The after school programs have been extremely successful in achieving their goals of encouraging students to pursue higher education or find a career that they enjoy. Through grant scholarships and the positive influences of the programs, the youth realize their full potential and stay involved in the community.

Elder Programs

Friendly House is committed to seniors in the community, and holds weekly social hours when seniors can socialize at the center. There are four large scale activities each year including a Hawaiian party and a Christmas party. Friendly house distributed 2000 Farmers Market coupons last year to seniors to buy fresh produce. They have a Homebound program where they deliver fruit and vegetables to the homes of individuals who have limited mobility.