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Open Table acts as a team
of life specialists and supporters, who work together with the
person/family being helped to overcome the obstacles that can hinder
self-sufficiency. Those obstacles can include limited access to health
care, housing, employment, legal matters and education, to name just a
few.
Breaking down the barriers
is what Open Table members do best, and their connections and services extend into
the following areas:
- Banking
- Finance
- Health Care
- Mental Health
- Housing
- Insurance
- Law
- Life Skills
- Occupational Support
- Personal Property
- Raising and Managing Families
- Training/Mentoring
- Transportation
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How Open Table Works To End Homelessness
Open Table members, working with the individual or
family being helped,
create a step-by-step economic stability and wholeness plan. The goals are attained through an ongoing management process, as
well as by drawing on resources from the congregation, personal networks
and solutions already created by other Open Table groups.
Reviewing tasks for the next seven days at a weekly
Open Table meeting.
Meetings are held on a weekly basis in order to track progress and address
concerns. An Open Table program is usually eight to twelves months in
length with on-going connection afterwards.
Financial assistance may be necessary to hasten a homeless family’s exit
from a shelter into safe housing. A contingency fund should also be
created to provide funding in case of job loss or another unplanned event
that endangers self-sufficiency.
Each person helped by Open Table makes a commitment to “pay forward” by
witnessing their journey in presentations to other congregations and
organizations. Their voices help expand Open Table and, as a result, more
people are helped.
Members of Tracy's Open Table celebrate her journey.
Open Table not only transforms the lives of the people it helps, it
changes everyone involved in the program, from members of the Table to
entire congregations. There’s nothing more extraordinary a congregation
can do than welcome a homeless family into its midst, give them the
support they need, and help them live a life that God has intended for all
God’s children.
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