Robin Mallery

When you think of home, what do you feel? If you’re very lucky, home is where you feel safe, comfortable, supported. Of course, not everyone has this experience. Among the frightening warnings that unfolded with the COVID-19 epidemic this year was the certainty that shelter-in-place orders, meant to protect people from the virus, were inevitably trapping some partners and children with their abusers. What happens then, when home is the problem, not a refuge? In Evansville, YWCA advocates for those who reach out for help and works diligently to redefine what home can be.

A fixture in the community since 1911, the YWCA of Evansville has continued to expand and evolve to meet community members’ needs. From the beginning, Erika Taylor, YWCA’s CEO of ten years, explains, “It was the social and cultural hub for women providing housing, classes, education, fitness programs, and swimming. Current programs include a domestic violence shelter, YES! residential recovery program, and the Live Y’ers after-school and mentoring program. We are definitely a multi-service organization, but the main thing to remember is that we are a home where women and children can find safety and supportive services to help them build better lives.” 

The theme of home is one Erika brings up more than once during our interview, and it’s clear how deeply she prioritizes bringing both mental and physical security to each of her clients. “I have always been drawn to the underdog, the underserved, the most vulnerable, and all things social justice,” says Erika. She remembers being in elementary school, walking several blocks to deliver groceries to an elderly member of her family’s church and helping the woman around her apartment. In college, Erika volunteered as a Big Sister and ultimately became an attorney. “Fairness, justice, and equity have always been my passion. The YWCA allows me to work with issues that I care about very deeply. I guess you could say I was recruited to apply for this job. Several people saw this position as my destiny before I even realized it for myself. I am getting paid for what I used to do as a volunteer and board member for many organizations in the community. Joining the YWCA truly allowed me to put my passion to work.”

Erika wears many hats as the CEO of YWCA because YWCA itself meets so many multifaceted community needs. “As a multiservice organization, it can be hard for people to understand all that we do. Most people only know about one program. It’s important for everyone to remember that we are a home to people who are facing extreme poverty and great adversity, whether it be addiction, abuse, or homelessness. Our clients are vulnerable. We empower them and support them as they break the cycle and rebuild their lives.” You are invited to learn more about YWCA’s diverse programming here.

COVID brought challenges to virtually every nonprofit this year, from increased demand with limited resources, to implementation of sanitation protocols – especially challenging in a communal living setting like YWCA’s residential programs. One opportunity for nonprofits to collaborate and alleviate pandemic stresses came when Urban Seeds began preparing and distributing weekly cooked-from-scratch meals as a relief effort for vulnerable community members. One recipient of these meals was YWCA. “I cannot even begin to express our gratitude to Urban Seeds for providing weekly meals to the clients living in our domestic violence shelter and sober living program.” Erika explains the varied benefits served with the dinners: “We operate on a tight budget where we must watch every penny. Urban Seeds provided us with more than a food donation. Communal living is not ideal. It can be even more stressful when social isolation is required. But we know that nothing heals the soul more than good food! These delicious made-from-scratch meals were truly a blessing to our organization. Urban Seeds helped to ease the burden on our budget while providing nutritious meals to the clients of the YWCA.”

What is a home? For some, a place to live and a feeling of “home” are far apart. When YWCA is able to intervene, the definition of home can begin to change. Home is a place where you are supported, where vulnerability can be turned into empowerment, where you can watch your children grow, where you can build healthy relationships, where you can gather around a lovingly prepared and nourishing meal. Eventually, the clients of YWCA will move out on their own, but the goal is that the feeling of home will be carried with them for life and into future generations.

How to help:

YWCA has created a personalized wish list to purchase requested Christmas gifts for their clients

Tickets for Urban Seeds’ Soup Share Spectacular fundraiser may be purchased through Nov. 27. Each soup and bread purchase will pay for an equal quantity to be donated to YWCA and Aurora Evansville.

One special aspect of Evansville nonprofits is the opportunities they have to work toward common visions and illuminate each others’ vital roles. Urban Seeds is deeply excited for our upcoming Soup Share Spectacular fundraiser, in which each delicious meal purchased by our supporters will also fund a meal for a client at YWCA or Aurora’s Vision 1505 facility. What is Aurora, and why does it matter? We reached out to Nathan Jochum to learn more.

The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned changes on a scale few of us have experienced before. In fact, “unprecedented times” could well be considered the ubiquitous catchphrase for 2020. But Nathan Jochum, the Marketing, Communications & Special Events Coordinator at Aurora, reveals that sometimes, unprecedented challenges have paved the way for unprecedented innovations.

Nathan began his career at Aurora in February of this year, just a month before COVID restrictions were rolled out across the state. Considering his background, Nathan was in the right place at the right time: “I have a degree in Public Relations/Advertising and I’m Co-Director of ParksFest Music Festival, which taught me a lot about handling special events and controlled chaos.” Nathan describes stepping into his role during the sudden changes as “trial by fire.… It’s affected everybody in every way possible,” but ultimately the task of adapting to COVID response has brought together Aurora’s team and strengthened how they serve the community. As an essential service, “We never stopped working.” In fact, as the pandemic unfolds into prolonged illness, unemployment, and loss of savings, Aurora’s aim to both prevent and resolve homelessness is more essential than ever before. Aurora’s protocols required some tweaks to ensure adequate social distancing, such as offering appointments for case management instead of walk-in, but otherwise Nathan says “it’s been business as usual,” with the exception of increased demand.   

Nathan doesn’t hesitate when asked his favorite thing about Aurora: “We’re a team and a family, but the greatest part is knowing you are making a difference in someone’s life. It also adds a lot of perspective to your own life and makes you think more about the trivial ‘first world’ problems we all deal with and take for granted.”

In order to discuss Aurora’s core programs, it’s also important to recognize what Aurora is not. Unlike many homeless outreach efforts in Evansville, Aurora is not a shelter or a community food share site but rather a constellation of programs dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in the community, one client at a time. With each program, “the goal is to get as many people housed as possible.”

Aurora’s newest program is eviction prevention – a necessity for many struggling under the weight of insecurity brought on by COVID. Applicants may receive assistance with utilities or rent payments as a way of preventing homelessness from ever occurring. More information on this vital service can be found here.

On the other end of the spectrum is the award-winning Street Outreach Team. This group of case managers goes directly to those who are already homeless and provide immediate needs, such as food, hygiene products, and blankets, as well as connecting them to longer-term services such as housing and medical care, including mental health care.

Not only does Aurora strive to help unhoused individuals flourish, but society as a whole. To that end, Aurora created Indiana’s first re-entry program for former inmates in 2012. By ensuring clients have a stable start after incarceration, their recidivism rates are less than half the state average. “Re-entry causes so many obstacles,” says Nathan, “Housing doesn’t need to be another one.”

Aurora also offers Permanent Supportive Housing for those who may otherwise struggle to live on their own due to addiction or disability. PSH occurs both at sites scattered around Evansville and at the permanent facility Vision 1505. Those who qualify receive not only housing but life skills training and other case management services to ensure success. 

Nathan explains that while some individuals will need continued support, the goal is to help clients from all their programs become more self-sustaining in whatever capacity they can. “We’re here as a help, not a handout. There’s something empowering for those who have come through the system.” (A more detailed description of Aurora’s various programs can be found here: https://auroraevansville.org/how-we-help/)

Amid all the success stories and realignment of services, Aurora recently seized on yet another opportunity to empower clients. This summer, Market on Main, Evansville’s downtown farmers’ market, entered its second year and was met with its own COVID-induced need to restructure. One improvement that evolved in the Market on Main rollout was a new option to order a farm box online. Patrons had the opportunity to order a variety of boxes for curbside pickup, or, notably, to purchase a fresh produce box to be donated to Aurora. The brainchild of Market on Main director Ashley Kiefer, Nathan says “a true partnership” blossomed between Aurora, Market on Main, and Urban Seeds to ensure clients could have access to fresh food that offers a different nutritional profile than the more accessible shelf-stable items. Nathan says growing up on a farm had already given him an appreciation for the fuel derived from fresh food, which he tries to offer to clients whenever possible. 

The produce boxes immediately left a big impression. “The first day I brought back boxes from Market on Main, there was a mom and her kids preparing to move into their new apartment.” Aurora always sets up clients for success with furnishings, meal kits, household utensils, and other essentials when they transition into housing; this time, Nathan was able to offer a deeply appreciated housewarming gift of a fresh produce box to the family as well. “Five minutes after I brought in the boxes, and we already saw a benefit!” Anyone who has gone out on their own can probably relate to that feeling of a house/apartment feeling like home when a nourishing meal is enjoyed for the first time.

While 2020 is coming to a close, Aurora’s work continues to grow. Their “Adopt-A-Client” holiday program is in full swing. An exercise in gratitude and compassion for donors, Nathan shared the “sobering” experience of shopping for underwear as a much-wanted Christmas gift. “Who wants underwear for Christmas?! There are so many people who don’t have the things that we take for granted. It gives you a new perspective, and hopefully we move back toward helping others.” 

Get involved:

Follow the directions at this link to “adopt” an Aurora client for the holidays.

Nathan has newly updated the “How You Can Help” page on Aurora’s website. Learn about a wide variety of opportunities to donate time, money, or items, or host a fundraiser on Aurora’s behalf.

Tickets are available for Urban Seed’s Soup Share until November 27th.

When you talk to Lori Noble, the word “tireless” springs to mind. As the Family and Community Outreach Coordinator at Evansville’s Lincoln Elementary School, Lori is the momentum behind the EVSC’s first food pantry, but Lori’s own experiences with food have been shaped over a lifetime. 

Lori’s education in cooking and nutrition started early, sitting on the radiator in her childhood kitchen and watching her mom prepare meals. “Cooking is a thing in my family,” says Lori, and cooking for a crowd was a skill passed down through the generations. In addition to the meals prepared at home, her mother also worked as a cook at Welborn Hospital. As Lori grew, she was given more responsibility in the kitchen. She vividly remembers her mother instructing her to cut up a whole chicken at the age of thirteen. At the time, “I thought, ‘Are you crazy?!'” but Lori realized how valuable the experience was later on as she was able to use her skills to nourish others, both physically and spiritually. 

As an adult, Lori worked for 15 years in the catering department at Old National Events Plaza and cooked for her own family of eight. On weekends, Lori would regularly help with dinners at her church for up to 50 people at a time, and she says her household hosted holiday dinners for extended family. Despite her then-husband working full time, feeding a large family didn’t always come easily. When money was tight, there were periods when Lori had to rely on food stamps and food pantry boxes to cover the gaps. Lori took pride in being able to stretch what they had to ensure the food was still flavorful and everyone was fed.

Lori’s remarkable work at the EVSC Lincoln School food pantry was known to Urban Seeds before the COVID-19 pandemic arose; but when Lori volunteered with Urban Seeds’ cooked-from-scratch meal initiative in the spring and summer of 2020, her cooking skills became invaluable in making meal preparation happen efficiently for the 350 people served per week. A daunting challenge for some, Lori brought her lifetime of knowledge to turn raw ingredients into crowd-pleasing, satisfying dinners.

Due to having used food stamps and food pantries herself, Lori brings a vital perspective to the Lincoln Food Pantry. “When people don’t have enough to eat, it’s demoralizing,” says Lori. She works hard to assist families that come to the food pantry with a variety of needs. “There are no perfect people. Families are figuring it out as they go.” To that end, Lori provides not only ingredients but educates families about meal preparation and offers a listening ear. “You can’t succeed if you don’t have fuel for your body and mind.” The food pantry ensures that families have that fuel, as well as the dignity and reassurance that comes with seeing one’s children well-fed.

This fall, Lori has begun a new initiative with the food pantry. Inspired by the cooked-from-scratch meals she prepared with Urban Seeds, Lori began to take a closer look at the prepackaged dinners on her pantry shelves. Lori recalls making tuna casserole for 350 people during one of her COVID meal prep volunteer sessions. “Up to my elbows in tuna! I got home and all my clothes smelled like tuna!” That week left an impression beyond the humor of the situation. Lori noted the additives in a typical package of Tuna Helper – a go-to meal for families with limited time and budgets – and “it really bothered me” that freshness and nutrients had been set aside for the sake of convenience. Lori got to work researching 30-minute, stovetop meals for beef stroganoff, hamburger dinner, and tuna noodle casserole to replace the additive-laden boxes of “Helper.” She offered the needed ingredients and one-page recipes to families in the program, and they all accepted. Feedback so far indicates that the recipes are so easy to follow that kids can help prepare the meal and spend time with their families. The scratch dinners also yield larger quantities than a box mix.

Lori works hard to ensure others receive more from the food pantry than she did in her earlier days – specifically, seasonings and fresh produce. Seasonings are essential for mimicking the flavor of those familiar box mixes Lori is replacing, and especially for children, “If the flavor isn’t what they’re used to, they’re not going to eat it.” Most seasonings can be obtained for $1, but make an immense difference in the taste of a meal and in turn, boost the confidence of those learning to cook from scratch. Fresh fruits and vegetables have obvious nutrient benefits, but Lori notices a boost in morale for families as well. Many families who use the food pantry lack the time and transportation to go to the grocery store often, and there are no full-service grocery stores within walking distance of Lincoln School. This makes families excited to enjoy the fresh produce as a special treat.

This fall has brought new challenges to the food pantry as a result of the pandemic. Illness and job loss have left many more families struggling. Lori says she has had families who never needed help in the past come to the food pantry this year. Due to deaths and financial hardship, Lori says more people are combining households, leading to more people under one roof sharing limited food. There are three ways the community can help, outlined below:

1. Donate – financial contributions are always welcome, as well as the following items: 

• jelly
• 1 lb. bags of brown rice
• dry beans – navy and pinto
• tuna packed in water
• elbow macaroni
• medium egg noodles
• canned fruit in natural juice – mandarin oranges, peaches, and pears
• spices – garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, and parsley flakes

2. Volunteer – The Tri State Food Bank has been spread thin during the pandemic, leaving Lori to shop for more items herself. This takes time and energy that she could otherwise spend at Lincoln, so she is hopeful to obtain a rotation of volunteers who can pick up items at the grocery store and deliver them to Lincoln School. Lori will provide a shopping list and payment for the groceries, all volunteers need is time and transportation. 
3. Be inspired, but don’t stop there. It’s easy to see the smiling faces and full bellies impacted by the EVSC Lincoln School food pantry as the inspiring resolution to an entrenched community problem; but the work of Lori and Urban Seeds is to question the systems that have created nutritional insecurity in the first place. What makes a tireless advocate like Lori tired? Lori puts it this way: “Food has been used as a reward and it can be used as a punishment. It is very uncomfortable to live in a place with no grocery stores while more convenience stores pop up all the time.” We all know the term “food desert” to describe a community that lacks access to adequate food resources; but consider the term “food apartheid.” The Lincoln neighborhood is not a desolate wasteland, as implied by a desert, but a thriving, active community full of families who share everyone’s desire to raise secure, nourished, happy children. The difference, then, is where the city wishes to invest. There is money to be spent in the Lincoln neighborhoods; if there was not, the convenience stores and dollar stores would not be thriving. Grocery stores, however, provide a greater social return by offering fresher, healthier options – options which Lori has proven at the food bank lead to improved mental health and academic performance. It’s true that a city bus can take anyone to an area with more options, but Lori is quick to point out the difficulty in hauling a week’s worth of groceries – and often small children – on public transportation during the limited hours the buses run. Cities all over the United States are finding creative ways to bring more nutrition to underserved areas. Evansville has had discussions on just this topic. But for those living with the problem, every day without change is another day of reduced nutrient security and the countless health and social struggles that accompany it. 

The Lincoln School food pantry is an essential community resource, but the ultimate goal is to create a system in which it is less needed. While the wait for a grocery store continues, Lori has begun to grow her own food and is working on plans to start a garden at the school so they can go outside and pick what can’t be obtained at neighborhood stores. “I can do something, here in my area,” says Lori; we are all called to do the same.

To donate or volunteer to the EVSC Lincoln Food Pantry, email Lori at lori.noble@evsck12.com

For those of us who are active in the nonprofit world, that familiar phrase is one way to define the phases of outreach, programming, and community impact. The majority of the work we do in the Food Justice sphere will fall under either a Relief, Rehabilitation, or Restoration umbrella.

The old adage “Give a man a fish…” is the perfect segue to a discussion of The Three Rs, through the Urban Seeds lens.

Our 19-week cooked-from-scratch meal share initiative, begun at the onset of Covid, is a marvelous example of a Relief effort. We saw a need to provide fresh, nutrient-dense meals to children and their families in our community to compliment the foods that were being provided by other agencies and organizations. While we have offered numerous cooking demonstrations and food samplings over the years (which is an example of rehabilitation), we had not undertaken sharing full meals…Read more here