Homeless Resource Center

Hey friends, let’s try this again. We need to raise $600 by Thursday morning. A single mom of two young kids is in desperate need of help. She’s doing everything right and working hard to solve problems as they come, but she’s hit the end of her resources this week. The cost of that gap is her electricity getting shut off Thursday at 9am. Here’s what she’s already done. She applied for assistance and reached out to several local agencies and charities. Her church and another local group have already helped her once this year, so they can’t again. We’ve seen the bill and confirmed the shutoff date. After so many things have gone wrong, she just started a new job, and she’ll be on solid ground once that first paycheck comes in. We just need to help her get to the good. She contacted us looking for options, not asking us to post her story. But I’d love to surprise her by solving this need instead of sending her on a quest to piece together dollars, with all the stress that comes with it. She’s already doing so much to raise her two young kids. Let’s take care of this for her! Thank you for helping us show the power of a community who cares!

Every week, guests at the Homeless Resource Center put on HRC vests and go to work cleaning up downtown Lawrence. They pick up trash along Mass Street, Kentucky Street, the library, local churches, and the bus stops around our day center. And they get paid for it. That's the Job Empowerment Program. GOOD FOR OUR GUESTS Guests earn $10 an hour. That money helps cover things like a phone bill, a prescription, or the cost of replacing an ID. Just as important, the work builds confidence. Guests who succeed in the program can put it on their resume and earn an employment reference from HRC as they move toward additional job training programs and long-term, sustainable careers. About 40 people have worked in the program so far, more ask for shifts every week, and some have moved on to jobs with local businesses. GOOD FOR OUR COMMUNITY We started this program in 2023 because some of our downtown neighbors were frustrated, and we heard them. We can be the best homeless services agency in the world, but if our neighbors hate us, we have failed. So our guests started taking care of the blocks around us. Within about a year, the complaints that used to come in every week stopped. In 2025 alone, guests put in about 1,500 hours of cleanup. YOUR GIFT STAYS IN THIS PROGRAM Every dollar given through this page goes directly to the Job Empowerment Program. Not general operations. Not overhead. Just wages for guests doing good work in our community. $10 = 1 hour of paid work $50 = 5 hours of paid work $100 = 10 hours of paid work Thank you for helping our guests earn, and helping Lawrence shine.