St. Mark's United Methodist Church Resource Center is providing a variety of help to the Lima community. In 2014, Director Jesse Roark was determined that the Resource Center wouldn't be just another food pantry, but a place to get a hand up, not just a handout. They put on job and career fairs, as well as, health and wellness events, as a way to get to the root of their client's problems and help them become self-sufficient, that also include people who have been released from prison. During the pandemic, the Resource Center was able to adapt by setting up a drive-thru food distribution to continue helping those in need, even if they couldn’t come inside the center to get it. They are now serving an average of 2,000 people a month.
Since 2008, Family Promise has been helping families who were in the need of temporary housing. They offer something that other area shelters were not able to do, which is to make sure that families stay together if they were found homeless. Family Promise works with various churches and community partners to help the people they serve get employment and housing, as well as other social services to them, be successful. When COVID hit, they couldn’t be there to help those who were left homeless. But the City of Lima was forming a non-congregate shelter program to help those “at-risk” and homeless individuals who tested positive for coronavirus. Family Promise took the lead to manage this project, they were able to assist 157 people, and 114 found permanent housing.
The Lima Symphony Orchestra has been preserving musical excellence in our area since 1953. Besides the countless concerts they perform, the Symphony has been dedicated to bringing educational programming to the public, through many events at local libraries and schools. In 2018, they started the Healing Through Music and Drumming Up Hope programs, which promotes healing in the local prison system and those fighting opioid addiction. While pandemic caused many performing arts programs to cancel, the Symphony reinvented themselves to hold their last season through online concerts, and in-person viewings at the Van-Del drive-in. The Lima Symphony Orchestra says they are fortunate to have the overwhelming support of the community, will continue to bring music to the area well into the future.
The winner of the Lima-Allen County Chamber of Commerce Non-Profit of the Year award will be announced during their annual gala on June 9th.
