Shelters/Recovery Programs
Lois’s Lodge - A family-style home in Charlotte, North Carolina for women facing the challenges of an unplanned pregnancy. Lois’ Lodge is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide a safe and healthy place for young women to live during an unexpected pregnancy. If you’re pregnant and need a place to live to prepare for the changes in your life, call us at 704-376-8550. You can also apply for residence at Lois’ Lodge by clicking here:www.loislodge.org/application.html
Jackson Park Ministries – The vision of Jackson Park Ministries is to see the families, children and all individuals of Jackson Park, Charlotte and surrounding communities come to know Christ as their Savior and Lord; becoming productive citizens in the community and serving others as a disciple of Christ, through providing shelter, clothing, food, counseling, and life training classes. For more information please contact Bob Lamoureux at bobl@jacksonpark.org.
Salvation Army Woman’s & Children’s Shelter – Families who are homeless, hungry and hurting can come to The Salvation Army Center of Hope to be fed, sheltered, clothed, trained, and most importantly, loved.The Center of Hope is located at 534 Spratt Street near Uptown Charlotte. This 36,000 square foot facility has 202 beds, but is frequently “home” to 230 women and children – making it the largest women and children’s homeless shelter in the Southeast. For more information please contact Ashley Pharr at ashley.pharr@uss.salvationarmy.org or call at 704-348-2560 ext. 246.
Emergency Winter Shelter – The winter of 1981, three homeless men in our community died of exposure. This tragedy sparked the development of an Emergency Winter Shelter to be open from December through March to house homeless men when all other community shelters were full. This effort was, and continues to be, led by our faith community. Last year, almost a thousand volunteers helped the staff of the Emergency Winter Shelter at check-in and meal times. Last winter, from November to March they provided 26,611 nights of shelter and 27,166 meals for an average of 176 men nightly who would otherwise have been left out on the street. For more information please contact John White at john.e.white@nccourts.org.
Men’s Uptown Shelter – Charlotte’s only permanent year-round shelter for homeless adult men who are eligible for admission to our program. Uptown Shelter serves the homeless men of Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Mooresville/Lake Norman, and Union Counties. Prospective clients must be homeless men, at least 18 years of ages, who need shelter, food, and a secure place to stay. These men must be able to meet their own personal care needs and be clean and sober. Clients must be residents of one of the above counties and must show proof of residency at time of admission (i.e. NC drives license, ID card, mail, etc.). For more information please contact Bill Newman at bill.newnan@uptownshelter.org or call him at 704-334-3187 ext. 107.
Families Together Program - YWCA provides a transitional housing program for homeless families. Families Together Program participants have access to a myriad of services including: family counseling and mentoring; computer instruction; education and job training programs; career counselling; financial planning services and volunteer facilitated social activities. The YWCA is now equipped to house over 100 homeless woman, children and families on the YWCA Park Road campus. To further assist families, an after school program has been opened especially for children living at the YWCA. For more information please contact Rebecca Stickel, Director of Families Together at 704-525-5770 or email rstickel@ywcacentralcarolinas.org
The Samaritan House – provides recuperative care to the homeless when they are discharged from the hospital. We provide an alternative “haven” when the other choices are to turn these individuals back to the streets, woods or to the highway underpass. We are an inter-faith ministry, but not affiliated with any church or religious/faith organization. We do not ask for, nor receive any local, state or federal funds/grants. We are supported in whole by the faith community, individuals and a couple of grants. We are truly a “grass roots” ministry with a mission of serving the homeless, when they have no other home to go to. We are open 24/7, 365 days a year. For more information call 704-527-1130.
Charlotte Rescue Mission – A Christian shelter and rehab which meets the needs; mind, body and soul; of those battling against addiction and homelessness, to break the cycle of destructive behavior that is passed from generation to generation with a strategy of addressing spiritual, mental, physical, social and vocational areas of our lives. For more information please call 704-334-3187.
Dove’s Nest – Dove’s Nest, Charlotte Rescue Mission’s women’s recovery program provides a structured, yet loving and stable living environment, with a dedicated staff aimed at helping women understand and deal with the core issues of addiction as a disease. The program is women-specific, with a staff dealing with all women’s issues including mental, emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Our clients come to Dove’s Nest to rest, mend, heal and gain a new direction in their lives. For more information please call 704-332-3999.
A Way Home – A Way Home, a community-based “umbrella” organization, was created to provide a proactive community response to the alarming rise of homelessness in Mecklenburg County and the inability, with current resources, to effectively address the growing problem. It is a community issue needing community-wide solutions and broader community-wide support than currently exists. For more information contact Chris Wolfe at lunar-c@carolina.rr.com or call at 704-347-3646.
Favar Ministries – Favar’s objective is to aid in the restorations of our neighborhoods and to stand against drug havens, violence and vandalism. Their mission is to face the evils by providing rehabilitation, education and spiritual mentorship to both the incarcerated and previously incarcerated. Favar Ministries is a six month to a one year program for both men and women. For more information please contact John Jennings at 704-339-1121 or email info@favarministries.org.
Changed Choices – Changed Choices provides a range of counseling and support services to female jail and prison inmates in local, state and federal systems. Inmates who continue as clients of Changed Choices throughout their incarceration, and who demonstrate a high capacity for complete rehabilitation, will be offered additional services upon release, including assistance with housing and other transitional needs. For more informations please contact Jacqueline Plante at jacqueline@changedchoices.org or call at 704-689-1469.
Mecklenburg Mental Health – Mecklenburg County Area Mental Health is working to create a community system that empowers and supports individuals to lead healthy and independent lives. Our focus is on managing services for those most in need and those with limited financial resources, rather than providing the services. If you need help with mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse issues in the Mecklenburg County area, call the AMH call center, MeckLINK at 704-336-6404 or Roxy Johnson at 704-432-0075.
Food Services
Christian United for People Ministry – CUP Ministry an emergency food pantry and ministry in Charlotte, NC whose vision is to meet people right where they are and allow the power of God to transform their lives. Our food pantry exists to give food and clothing to the homeless, the bound, the working poor, as well as those going through a crisis and need one-time assistance. The food pantry is open Mondays and Wednesdays 9:30am until 3:30pm. For more information please contact David Godwin at 704-331-4806 or email cupministry@yahoo.com
Friendship Trays – Friendship Trays delivers about 750 meals daily to elderly, handicapped, and convalescing people who are unable or greatly restricted in their ability to prepare or secure meals and who reside within the area we can reach with our corps of drivers. Deliveries are at the lunch hour but the meal is a full one, more like what many people are accustomed to for dinner. For more information please contact 704-333-9229.
Loaves and Fishes – Loaves & Fishes is a nonprofit emergency food pantry program which provides a week’s worth of groceries to people in crisis in Charlotte Mecklenburg. Loaves & Fishes began in 1975 when a handful of people in our community recognized the growing hunger needs of people in our area and opened a single food pantry to address those needs. In 1975, Loaves & Fishes fed approximately 1,000 people. Since 1975, Loaves & Fishes has grown to a network of 16 pantries located throughout Mecklenburg County. Loaves & Fishes served 73,363 people in 2006. For more information please contact Beverly Howard at 704-523-4333 or email her at beverly@loavesandfishes.org.
Second Harvest Food Bank – Provide a regional distribution warehouse and branches that supply food and grocery items to charitable agencies that assist people in need. Provide training, consultation, technical assistance, and hunger education to our partner agencies. For more information please call 704.376.1785.
Society of St. Andrew – The Society of St. Andrew operates a statewide, volunteer-driven Gleaning Network in North Carolina that coordinates with local farmers, thousands of volunteers, and food providing agencies. Our North Carolina Gleaning Network is going strong, salvaging eight to ten million pounds of fresh produce for the hungry each year. In this agriculturally diverse state, gleaners work to salvage everything from strawberries to sweet potatoes to collard greens. For more information please contact the Charlotte office at (704) 553-1730 or e-mail sosawnc@endhunger.org.
Urban Ministry – Over 150 volunteers are involved preparing more than 70,000 meals annually. We serve lunch seven days a week, 365 days a year, 11:15am-12:15pm. For more information please call 704-347-0278.
Jobs/Job Training
Jacob’s Ladder – Jacob’s Ladder Job Center, Inc. was founded in 1998 as a compassionate response to the Welfare-to-Work movement and to chronic unemployment in the surrounding city neighborhoods of Piedmont Courts, Belmont, Optimist Park and Villa Heights. Drawn largely from these neighborhoods, typical clients are men and women who have encountered significant hurdles in their lives. Our clients go through a four-step process to help them find jobs. Volunteers help them and continue to support them after they obtain jobs. We also work with employers to hire our clients, who often face major barriers to employment. For more information please email info@jacobsladdercharlotte.org or call 704.332.5822.
JobLink – For Job Seekers, The Charlotte-Mecklenburg JobLink Career Center System offers a number of services to help individuals explore careers and get a good job. It’s the most comprehensive employment service available, bringing together Businesses, Job Seekers, Training Opportunities, Job Listings, Job Search Classes, Employment Research and Job Market Analysis. For more informations please call 704-597-8057.
Affordable Housing
Woman In Transition – The YWCA Woman In Transition (WIT) Program provides safe affordable housing with intensive support services to over 100 single woman at risk of homelessness each year. Every woman’s needs are thoroughly assessed and she is helped to meet her individual goals with the support of her case manager. For more information please contact Ligia Mason at 704-525-5770 or email her at lmason@wycacentralcarlinas.org
The Affordable Housing Group - TAHG established in 1966 and mission is to develop affordable housing and provide technical assistance to community-based and faith-based organizations in North Carolina. For over 40 years, TAHG has provided an array of services to build the capacity of local groups, and thus expand the number of organizations capable of serving the housing needs of their communities. The result has been the development of thousands of affordable homes and a growing number of local organizations with the motivation, knowledge and skills to address the affordable housing needs of their citizens. For more information please email tahg@affordablehousinggroup.org or call 704-342-3316.
The Housing Partnership – The Housing Partnership is a housing development and financial corporation organized to expand affordable and well-maintained housing within stable neighborhoods for low and moderate-income families in the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County with a continuing interest in the ability of occupants to more fully enter the economic mainstream. Their vision is to significantly expand the ability of the organization to create affordable housing and remain a community development force committed to continued collaboration with the private sector, along with neighborhood and government partners in promoting and developing economically integrated neighborhoods. For more information please email info@cmhp.org or call 704.342.0933.
Social Serve – Serves thousands of communities in multiple states and handles millions of searches per year, provides a fully-staffed toll free English/Spanish Call Center that helps landlords list and helps tenants search for properties while providing continuous property availability updates, produces the Website in English and Spanish — true translation by native speakers – other languages available, offers the best and most cost-effective solution bar none — no need for “discounts” or costly licensing fees, provides incredibly cost-effective specialty services [determine reasonable rents, manage HCVP available property list, etc.] for Public Housing Authorities, and provides customized housing databases for disaster relief in as little as two-hours for cities, counties or states and staffs the service with a toll-free Call Center. For more informations please call 704.334.8722. For Spanish call 1.877.428.8844.
Sister for Sister Housing Network – Provides affordable housing in Charlotte, NC. The Sister for Sister Housing Network’s program offers boarding house style living arrangements for females over the age of 18 that are homeless or at risk of being homeless. We also assist women with fixed incomes that simply can’t afford to live on their own due to the lack of affordable housing in Charlotte, NC. For more information please call 704-968-2838.
Special/Financial Services
LOVE, Inc. – Love INC exists to mobilize area churches to reach out to a hurting and needy world in the Name and Love of Christ. There are many individuals living with severe needs in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg community that no social service agency is able to serve. It is their hope that by having a church volunteer reach out to them in their time of need, the poor, elderly and disabled in our community may understand how much God loves them. For more information contact Monica, Family Services Coordinator at 704-536-5588.
Step by Step Home Daycare – Provides families in their community a safe, nurturing, and affordable daycare. They provide things like clothing, food, overnight care, mentoring and constant education to the kids. They regularly take children overnight or on the weekend to accommodate parents who cannot afford off-hours daycare or in consideration of whatever specific need or situation that a family may have. For more information please call Alisha King at 704-568-1214.
Crisis Assistance Ministry – Crisis Assistance Ministry serves the low-income citizens of Mecklenburg County, who are facing financial emergencies and are struggling to meet life’s basic needs. These include people who working in one or more low-wage jobs, disabled or elderly and living on fixed incomes, facing increasing costs of living, stagnant wages and a lack of affordable housing, and without a network of support. For more information please contact Darren Ash at dash@crisisassistance.org or call at 704-651-0137.
Disaster Response
American Red Cross – Each year, the American Red Cross responds immediately to more than 70,000 disasters, including house or apartment fires (the majority of disaster responses), hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hazardous materials spills, transportation accidents, explosions, and other natural and man-made disasters. Last year, the Greater Carolinas Chapter assisted 1,270 local residents who suffered a house fire or other disaster. For more information contact Keith Partin at PartinK@usa.redcross.org or call 704-378-4636.
Transportation Services
American Red Cross – American Red Cross Transportation Services provide to Mecklenburg and Iredell County residents, free of charge. The service assists residents who have no other means of transportation to remedial or preventative care appointments. Transportation is provided Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. on a first come, first serve, non-emergency basis. To inquire how you or your loved one can join the program, please call at 704-347-8210 or 704-347-8211.
