Handmaidens Ministries Inc, a local Atlanta non-profit organization, whose mission is, “Helping Those In Need”, takes a unique approach to fulfilling food shortages in the community by engaging court volunteers who are required to complete court ordered community service hours.
The program in place not only addresses the lack of economic resources for families and individuals, but also provides a social service for court ordered volunteers who have difficulty finding sites who will allow them to complete their mandated requirement.
In many places, people who are put on probation are required to research and find a place on their own who will allow them to complete their hours.
The common problem with this scenario is that most organizations presume that allowing a “violator of the law” (especially those with theft and drug charges) is too much of a liability and suggest that they look elsewhere for a place to fulfill their required community duty.
That’s when they seek assistance from Handmaidens Ministries Inc. HMI accepts any of these so called “violators”, and treats them as if they are normal citizens, who just need a second chance to redeem themselves.
CEO, Sheila Morgan, stated, “We provide our clients with options, peace of mind, and a conscience of servitude. By allowing them to work and collect various types of contributions respective to the amount of hours they need completed, they are able to help themselves by completing their hours in a timely manner, avoid a stricter sentence, as well as feed those in need with their collections. It is as the same concept as ringing a bell in front of stores and distributing the food service to those who wait in line.”
She continues, “We require that each client collects one bag of nonperishable food items for each community service hour needed. A local food pantry gives out the food four times a week. Volunteers have the job to go out into the community and collect the items either by asking friends and family, canvassing door to door, asking co-workers, and church members. In special cases, such as hospital patients, we allow volunteers to make fiscal contributions relevant to the amount of food they would have to collect. We even allow clients the options to offer their special skills and services. We’ve had webmasters, paralegals, marketing consultants, and even physicians who’ve participated in our social services program work using their skills for HMI.”
Handmaidens Ministries, Inc takes pride in being able to provide an alternative to the traditional orange vests and street cleaning that we’re all used to.
Ms. Morgan goes on to state, “Sometimes the community service required is too much of a burden and just not realistic. If a person has to work 50 hours a week, take care of a family, and complete 200 hours of community service, they can become overwhelmed fairly easily. Many have lost their jobs.”
When viewing Handmaidens Ministries’ website, visitors will find the comments of literally hundreds of distressed individuals from all over the country, who have requested that HMI provide them with a solution to their required community service need.
This dynamic model is so effective that its popularity grew immensely when the service was first launched.
“We don’t even have to advertise much anymore…” stated Ms. Morgan. “We get so many referrals on a daily basis from past clients and the relationships that we’ve built with probation services, courts, and defense attorneys, that we recently had to open our office from 2 days per week to full time hours just to keep up with the demand.”
She continues, “Contrary to what most may assume, the majority of our clients aren’t your typical street criminal, but rather hard-working, family centered adults, who just got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. The service is community, and an opportunity to rid social programs. We love our clients and have come to build long term relationships with many of them.”
This two fold service concept developed by the Board of Handmaidens Ministries Inc certainly has obtained much deserved respect of many city and state officials and has perfectly fulfilled their mission of, “Helping Those In Need.”
For more details, visit www.HandmaidenMinistriesInc.org
