Hoboken Grace Launches Plan to Show Love to the Community

Home Response Plan created to assist Local Community

At Hoboken Grace, we have recently launched the Home Response Plan offering a variety of assistance programs to the community. We are allotting $440k to be utilized for the implementation of this plan and have partnered with volunteers, professionals, and other community members to open free services and resources to Hoboken community members in need. With so many having been affected, during this time, by changes in their lives including unemployment, reduction in wages, and homeschooling. We are passionate about sharing a sense of “home” with our city through a wide assortment of opportunities.

“From the beginning, Hoboken Grace has been about serving. We believe we’ve been loved in a powerful way, and we have a responsibility to share that love with those around us. We want to do all we can to love our neighbors as best as we can.” – Hoboken Grace Pastor Chris High.

These are just a few of the initiatives launching over the next two weeks. You can sign-up for assistance or to volunteer for any of these programs at Hobokengrace.com/relief/.

FOOD PACKAGES

We are compiling food packages that will be available to those in our community who are experiencing food shortages due to lack of income and employment caused by COVID-19. It is our goal to make these packages available to thousands within our community, specifically targeting those who are not part of the existing community food provision systems to make sure as many people as possible are provided for.

LOCAL BUSINESS COACHING

Many small business owners are struggling to navigate the complexities of this moment as we walk through this situation together. We have many professionals in our network and will bring together a team of volunteer accountants and attorneys to provide pro-bono advice to these small businesses. We want to leverage every resource we can to help our neighbors.

INTERVIEW AND RESUME COACHING

We are building a team of HR professionals who will provide resume and interview coaching for those looking for employment as a result of COVID-19. These team members will be available to book for one-on-one coaching sessions. It’s crucial that we help people get back to work as quickly as possible, and while many jobs have been lost, there are opportunities emerging. We want to help people engage those opportunities well.

INCREASED PARTNERSHIPS

We will be doubling our partnership support budget, allowing us to reinforce our partners that are also working on COVID-19 relief. We have amazing partners doing excellent work throughout our community. In particular, we will focus on tutoring programs aiding those falling behind in the current distance learning settings.

SMALL BUSINESS ASSISTANCE

As small businesses plan to reopen in our community, we will celebrate, encourage, and assist them in a way that also allows us to love our community and those in need. Again, we want to leverage our financial resources to do so, but also leverage our people resources to do all we can to support those who are crucial in the development of our community.

LOCAL CHURCH SUPPORT

Our situation is not the norm. Many local churches are struggling during this time, so we want to come alongside our partner churches in a meaningful way. We want to ensure that they continue impacting their communities and are able to love people during this time, as well. It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. Jesus’ mission of seeking and saving is our mission, and we want to invest heavily in that.

BENEVOLENCE

We have doubled our existing benevolence budget, allowing us to come alongside individuals and households who need assistance while they are working through unemployment or underemployment situations. Our team does an amazing job of helping people manage overwhelming financial situations. We want to make sure that team has the resources to do so with an increased demand.

CARE CALLS

The pastoral staff and the Care Team from Hoboken Grace have set up a system that allows anyone to schedule a personal call with them during the week. We want to be available to those who are working through difficult situations during this time. We believe it’s crucial to be available to those who need help personally navigating this moment.

For more information on how you can get involved and/or receive these services, visit hobokengrace.com/relief/.