Syracuse, NY – The Samaritan Center serves about 600 meals daily in a church on North State Street. But many of the guests who enter the center need more than just food to get through their day.
Some of them need help getting a driver’s license, a job, or warm clothes for the winter.
“Each meal served represents an individual,” said Mary Beth Frey, the executive director of The Samaritan Center. Those people come to the center with complex needs, she said.
To help bridge those gaps, the center hired two new employees this summer to speak one-on-one with people at the center.
The center also expanded to an old storage space next to the church to host these individual meetings with case managers. It’s called the case management annex.
The new space has cubicles, an office and a bathroom. It’s the center’s first expansion since moving to its current location 10 years ago.
The center paid for this with $250,000 from the state. It also received additional support from the Central New York Community Foundation, the John Ben Snow Foundation, and the Allyn Family Foundation.
State Sen. Rachel May’s office helped advocate for the state money. May held the scissors with the new director of the case management program during the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday.
May said she has volunteered at the center in the past.
“You get to see how this is not just a meal,” May said. “This is really nutritious, delicious food prepared with love and served with love.”
The center’s new employees now meet with people both on an as-needed basis when they come to get food and during scheduled appointments. The chief development officer, Joelle Harleston, said she expects the center to help approximately 30 people per week.
Raymond Mailloux III, the new case management program director, said he met a man a couple of months ago at the center who needed help finding a job and housing. Mailloux helped connect him with the Manufacturers Association of Central New York, a group that facilitates job training and helps people get interviews.
Mailloux said that’s the focus of the new center. They won’t be people’s long-term case managers, but they will help connect them with the services they need in the short term.
“Our desire is to be the experts in who does what,” Mailloux said. “We want you to know that I know where we can further your conversation to better or meet your needs.”