Memorial Assistance Ministries needs volunteers and donations this holiday season as the non-profit prepares for a year like no other.
MAM helps families bounce back from crisis with a wide variety of programs and services like rent assistance and educational opportunities.
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This year, many families in the community to not be able to pay their rent as the federal declaration that halts evictions to help stop the spread of COVID-19 expires Dec. 31, according to MAM President and CEO Sonja Gee.
“There are many, many families in our community that have not been able to pay their rents and have had that lingering and stacking up,” said Gee. “Without having other stimulus funds and with unemployment in some cases either running out or just not being sufficient, I think that there is a significant number of folks who are going to be facing potential evictions come the beginning of 2021.”
MAM provides services to over 9,000 families each year, and almost a third of their revenue that supports their services come through their resale store. A great deal of their staffing for the resale store in a typical year is based on volunteers but because many of them are at high-risk for contracting COVID-19 and have been unable to come in, MAM lost a critical part of their staffing.
“One way that people can help is to come and volunteer in the retail store — we have a lot of different opportunities,” said Gee. “If people don’t feel comfortable being in the store itself, they can be in our warehouse, which is a very large space. We are also looking for people that can help us expand our online store.”
On top of needing volunteers for their retail store, they are always looking for more teachers for their English classes. According to Gee, MAM has one of the largest English as a second language programs in the area, where all of their classes are taught by volunteers. Due to COVID-19, MAM shifted all their classes online, creating a new opportunity for people who are working from home and looking for virtual volunteer opportunities.
According to Gee, a lot of their ESL students are, “struggling to just make it day to day so their focus is on getting or maintaining their job if they have one, keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table for their families,” and having the time to maintain the courses have been a challenge. However, they have seen an uptick in student enrollment in MAM’s latest trimester and are confident they will be able to provide a successful service with the help of their volunteer teachers.
Another way MAM supports families during their holiday season is through their annual Christmas Share Program, where they collect donations of new toys, blankets, and gift cards to stock their stores called The North Pole and The South Pole.
Families in need are invited to shop for their children during a scheduled time, with volunteer “elves” on-hand to help parents make selections. Parents can surprise their children with gifts for the holidays. Teens are given a $50 gift card, and each child gets a warm blanket.
MAM is accepting gifts and monetary donations for their Christmas Share from Monday, Nov. 30 through Wednesday, Dec. 9.
Although MAM is helping people in a variety of ways, COVID-19 has created an undeniable strain on its non-profit business model.
“For organizations that are not specifically designed just to respond to emergencies, being in disaster mode for extended periods of time really begs for us to consider our staffing and program models to be able to be resilient and ensure that we can continue to provide a high quality of service,” said Gee.
When COVID-19 started shutting down businesses earlier this year, like many other organizations, MAM was hopeful that it would not last this long. Now, MAM is having to re-evaluate and recognize that COVID-19 could potentially last for at least another two quarters and beyond.
“We’re thinking about how that impacts us as an organization financially, but also the bandwidth and the energy of our staff,” said Gee. “Which, at the end of the day, just like in the medical profession, it’s those responders that every single day are getting up and serving the families that have needs and we really need to be taking care of them.”
ryan.nickerson@hcnonline.com
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November 22, 2020 at 02:55AM
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MAM seeks volunteers to help families in need this Christmas season - Houston Chronicle
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