Grace Episcopal Church is a member of the Basic Needs Coalition — an organization where representatives from many of the churches and social service agencies in the area collaborate and coordinate to better work to end homelessness in Traverse City — and what we know is that ending homelessness is accomplished only by ensuring that affordable, safe, comfortable housing is available to everyone. That, however, does not happen quickly enough — and so, while we work towards that goal, we help to ensure that everyone’s basic needs are met.

The local outreach agency Love Thy Neighbor helps to ensure that people have access to basic needs through the Hygiene Pantry that they stock at Jubilee House (which provides toothpaste, dish soap, feminine hygiene products, and soap just to name a few items). Other local agencies and churches also provide such basic needs in a variety of locations around town and we partner with them to try to ensure that we can all best meet the needs of everyone we encounter. For the fall/winter, the Basic Needs Coalition is looking for the following items that we expect to be needed to ensure that everyone has access to the basics: