Ballard Community Center, Inc.
Human Service Programs

Homee• About Us • News • Children's Programs • Donations • Penn House • Florida Project

 

 

 

 

"It is one of life's greatest compensations, that we can not sincerely try to help someone else without helping ourselves."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson-

Human Service Programs

 Emergency Services Council (ESC)
Ballard Community Services administers the Emergency Services Council (ESC). Through ESC, member agencies provide assistance for people facing utility disconnection or eviction.  Qualified applicants are eligible for up to $200 in assistance in a year, with no more than $600 in help maximum in a lifetime.  Sites for ESC include Ballard Center, Penn House, Salvation Army, and ECKAN.

Warm Hearts
Warm Hearts assists in the heating of homes. Qualified applicants can receive a maximum of $300 towards gas or $400 towards propane or wood heating. In rare cases where houses have no furnace hook up and the entire household is electric only, up to $300 can be applied to electric bills.

Holiday Bureau
Holiday Bureau allows individuals and groups to adopt families that cannot afford to buy gifts during the Holiday season. Adopters provide a dinner, clothing and gifts for the family. Nearly 500 families totaling 1961 individuals were adopted during the 2009 holiday season.

My Sister’s Closet
My Sister’s Closet is a clothing and item pantry specifically designed to help women transition into work situations or have better opportunities to advance into better paying jobs.  Access to this pantry is by referral from other agencies, especially agencies that offer employment services, such as JobLink. 

School Kits
Our School Kits program provides school supplies and backpacks for students K-12 and shoes for students K-3. Qualification for the program is matched for qualification to for the free and reduced school lunch program at schools.

Heats On
Heats On is an annual service that the local Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union provides. The Union members volunteer their time one weekend in October to inspect the furnaces of elderly and disabled homeowners who cannot afford to hire someone else to do the work.

CSFP
CSFP provides needed commodities for income eligible individuals who are over 60 years, children ages 1-5 (who are not on the WIC program), and post-natal mothers for up to one year.

Medical Prescription Assistance
The Medical Prescription Program assists low-income families and individuals by supporting prescription payments. One can receive assistance up to three times a year or up to $100. Prescriptions will only be covered if they provide for vital health needs.

VITA
VITA is the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.  Administered by KU Law Students, this program gives free tax assistance to families and individuals in Douglas County.  While the program is not specifically for low income families, it does provide low income families and individuals who use Ballard and Penn House an opportunity for free tax service.

Food, Clothing, and Diaper Pantries
BCS maintains two food pantries, two clothing pantries, and two diaper pantries to help qualified low income families and individuals with these vital needs.

Mobile Food Pantry
The Mobile Food Pantry is an event that allows Douglas County residents to access free produce that would otherwise perish. Ballard facilitates these once a month with 500-700 people receiving food assistance through Mobile Food Pantry each month. Mobile Food Pantry will be at the Douglas County Fairgrounds buildings 1 and 2 for the remainder of 2010. 

2011 Dates are:
January 19
February 16
March 16
April 20
May 18
June 15
July 13
August 24
September 14
October 27
November 16
December 28