Lifting Up Westchester: Where Hope Takes Flight – One Person at a Time

In April a major independent nonprofit social services organization serving people in Westchester County announced a big identity change. White Plains-based Grace Church Community Center unveiled its new name, Lifting Up Westchester: Where Hope Takes Flight – One Person at a Time.

The new name says it all. Lifting Up Westchester touches the lives of 4,000 individuals each year, providing 140,000 meals to the hungry and 28,000 nights of shelter to the homeless. But that is not all, the organization is deeply involved in providing unique and comprehensive care to each person whose life it interacts with through programs and services intended to give that person the ability to engage in a healthy, independent, vital and sustainable lifestyle. That is where the hope comes in. Hope for each person served.

Paul Anderson-Winchell, Executive Director, Lifting Up Westchester, came to the organization in 2005, a time that marked the beginning of a global shift in economics and a change in society’s recognition of the identity of those who are poor.

In Westchester today, one of the most affluent counties in the United States, the general public is just becoming aware of how many people are living at or below the poverty line. There are thousands, including children, who are homeless and one in every five families in Westchester needs food assistance, Anderson-Winchell said in a recent interview.

Already engaged in a 36-year history of working with the most vulnerable in our community, Lifting Up Westchester is securing the future for its programs and the people it serves.

“It does not get easier,” Anderson-Winchell said, who refers to the people served by his organization’s shelters and hunger programs as guests.

With a $10 million annual budget and 250 dedicated employees, Lifting Up Westchester is larger than many people may realize. Its reach is expansive and well beyond its home base in White Plains.

The organization started in the early 1970s when a group of concerned parishioners at Grace Episcopal Church began handing out sandwiches to hungry people on the streets of White Plains where the parish is located. Soon other needs became apparent and the group opened a small family shelter in their parish hall. Then came a day camp for homeless children and a home care program for aging parishioners.

It was all about compassion and commitment, but more was needed and the nonprofit agency called Grace Church Community Center was created.

But it was not a church and not a community center, Anderson-Winchell explained. “It made sense 35 years ago, but we have outgrown the name,” he added.

“About three years ago we decided it was time to stop being Westchester’s best kept secret. We held focus groups with staff, key donors and community leaders,” Anderson-Winchell said. “The focus groups confirmed what we thought, that people did not know the scope of our work. Many people identified only with our soup kitchen or with Open Arms Men’s Shelter.”

Today programs include Open Arms Men’s Shelter, which is undergoing a major renovation on Post Road in White Plains, Samaritan House Women’s Shelter, and the soup kitchen, which has been renamed Grace’s Kitchen that reach out to hungry and homeless men, women and families, along with programs for those suffering from substance abuse, mental illness and domestic violence.

We offer much more than just a meal, bed and a shower, Anderson-Winchell emphasized. “Our programs include substance abuse and mental health recovery help, employment and budgeting assistance, rent subsidies and ongoing case management support.”

Working with government and other local agencies such as SHORE, Westhab, and YWCA, Lifting Up Westchester’s housing program gets homeless individuals and families into permanent housing situations.

“Each individual requires a unique plan, which is why our programs are comprehensive,” Anderson-Winchell said.

The Brighter Futures Summer Camp for homeless children grew to include after school and tutoring programs and a college scholarship fund.

“Many of these children have grown up with us. Our goal is to help these children be the first in their families to go to college and the last to live in poverty,” Anderson-Winchell said.

No one is ever turned away.

Having grown out of its home health care program for aging parishioners, Lifting Up Westchester operates a licensed Home Health Care agency for the elderly and disabled that makes up about one-third of its operations, according to Anderson-Winchell, and that agency provides funding support to many of the outreach programs, providing sustainability for the entire operation.

The Home Health Care agency also provides free training for healthcare aids and workers, who can then find jobs in health care at any facility. This year the organization also will be working with the White Plains Youth Bureau at the new Community Education Center under construction at the Winbrook housing complex.

Anderson-Winchell says he is proud to work with a very compassionate and supportive staff. “It is their commitment and concern for social justice that makes up the DNA of this organization,” he said. ‘We have a new name, but the same commitment.”

Lifting Up Westchester: Where Hope Takes Flight – One Person at a Time is based at 35 Orchard Street, White Plains; 914-949-3098. New website is under construction.