Washington County Enterprise-Leader
GRACE Place Works On New Ministry Building
LINCOLN — GRACE Place is in the midst of renovating a building next to its thrift store to be used as a new welcome center for the ministry.
Neil Helms, chairman of the board of directors, said GRACE Place has signed a five-year lease for the building at 116 Park St., and the new space will give volunteers more offices for counseling, a larger waiting area and more room to store food to help families in the area.
“We are having up to 40 families on a Tuesday night and with 40 families, we need space for three counselors,” Helms said.
GRACE Place is a ministry started in 1988 and supported by 15 area churches. The acronym GRACE stands for Groceries, Resources And Clothing for Encouragement.
Everyone who helps, including director Kim Igo, serves as volunteers. Igo said the ministry has about 110 volunteers who help out in the welcome center or help with the thrift store.
“We’re there because we want to be,” Igo said.
Some of the work on the inside of the new building has been donated and others are helping out at a reduced cost for their services. Some of the work will be
contracted out.
Igo said she hopes to be in the new building by the first of the year or shortly thereafter.
Along with a new building, GRACE Place is moving from using a paper file system to electronic files to make the program more efficient. Staff has been inputting all information into a computer to make the transition.
Helms said GRACE Place tries to meet the needs of people in the area with a concentration on Christian counseling.
“To get people out of this cycle, they need divine intervention,” Helms said.
The ministry’s goal is to not turn anyone away with needs and services are available, regardless of where they live.
“If they come and need food or clothing and are willing to go through counseling, we’ll give it to them,” Helms added.
Igo has served as director for five years and said she continues to be blessed by helping others. An average of 600-1,000 people show up every month, a lot of people for a small building, Igo said.
“I really enjoy it. It’s blessed me and has been very fulfilling for me to help and be a part of the community,” Igo said.
Families who come through the Welcome Center first meet with counselors before leaving with boxes of food and possibly clothing vouchers. Money donations for the ministry come from the area churches involved in the program. Food comes from Harps in Lincoln, the NWA Food Bank, the community and Lincoln Community Garden.
This year, for example, the community garden has provided a multitude of fresh produce options for families, including more than 3,000 tomatoes, 735 squash, 1,700 cucumbers, more than 4,000 peppers, sweet corn, okra, kale, radishes, potatoes and onions.
Other food provided to clients are refrigerated items, such as dairy products and meat, canned goods, beans and rice.
Families are given vouchers for clothes and other items from the thrift store next door. Each voucher allows a person to pick out three shirts, three pairs of pants and one pair of shoes.
If they need other things, GRACE Place will do what it can to provide those items.
Anita Winningham of Lincoln has been a volunteer for so many years that she cannot remember how many.
“Grace Place is a ministry,” she said. “For one thing, they are going to hear the word of God when they come in. They are going to be prayed over. Some are desperate for food, some are desperate for clothing and I feel God has provided for them. God supplies those needs and we are here as the hands to meet those needs.”
James Moore, a volunteer for 14 years, said he has quit as a volunteer two or three times but always comes back.
“I enjoy helping people,” Moore said.
Winningham added, “We try to leave them with hope. We just want to leave them with the hope that God is there and we’re going to continue to pray for them.”