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It is said that when God closes one door He opens another and that is certainly illustrated by the growth at the West End Christian Community Center where the closing of doors at a church many years ago has resulted in door after door opening on new programs to benefit community members of all ages.
When the Newberry United Methodist Church, 901 Diamond St., closed its doors a little over 16 years ago and merged with St. John's United Methodist Church, it left the large building sitting empty.
"A number of ladies felt that our community needed a place of unity," said Calvin Phillips, director of the center.
"So they started what basically was a yard sale on the weekends inside. From that kind of meager beginnings we have grown to what we are now with 28 different programs either housed or run by the West End Christian Community Center," he said.
With so many programs, the WECC is kind of a one-stop shopping site for people in need.
"If you have a need and you come we can kind of hash out all the areas that you might be able to use somebody to walk beside you," Phillips said.
The center then uses their resources, or the resources in the community to help meet those needs.
"We can provide everything from emergency food to shoes for children. We have the clothes closet, which is what we call it, which is kind of a thrift shop, a clothing shop where we keep prices at bare minimum, like $.25 and $.50," he said.
If someone can't afford to pay anything, the center offers coupons or vouchers to go shopping.
Everything is donated and in addition to clothing, they offer most home goods, but not furniture.
Four days a week the center serves a hot meal at what they call the SK Cafe. They also have a coffee cart, where you can get hot drinks in the winter and water or cold drinks in the summer.
"It gives you a place to either get warm or get cool," he said, adding that at 10:30 a.m. the cafe opens with serving starting at 11 a.m.
Food for the center programs is purchased through the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank and acquired by donations from local businesses.
They serve between 100 to 125 people a day and the need is increasing.
The need for volunteers and financial support is also increasing especially as inflation is on the rise.
"Just in one year at the SK Cafe, their food ordering and processing increased 400%," Phillips said.
The cost of paper goods, such as to-go containers, forks and knives has increased four-fold.
"With the same number of people, we're serving three or four times many more people," he said.
The clientele that the center serves, Phillips noted, is different from those served at Sojourner Truth Ministries in Williamsport.
"We're very similar, however the communities that we serve are dramatically different. Where Sojourner is dealing with those that are severely economically oppressed or are homeless or suffering from mental health issues ... what we see are those that are on typically fixed incomes that earn too much to be able to function within the social system, but not enough to meet the financial needs of their particular household," he said.
"That gap with inflation and job loss and all of the stuff that comes about because of COVID ... that gap has expanded -- that's our population. We're here to make sure these people do not fall through the cracks and to find ways that we might be able to get them connected with some of the other services that are available that may be a bit more flexible with their guidelines," Phillips said.
The center itself has no guidelines, no qualifiers to keep people from participating in their programs.
"You're warmly welcomed here. We're a family. That's what you're coming to, is a family," Phillips said.
"That's lacking in a lot of people's lives. So, we are trying to show that a community fulfills that need, We're a family, we come together, let's do it together. And, if you get to a point in your life or season in your life that maybe you have excess or you are very comfortable, then we strongly encourage you, come back and help us with the next person," he added.
One group in their "family" is benefitting from a program called FOCUS, which stands for feeding our children united, serving each with dignity. Conducted in conjunction with the food bank, WECC has become responsible for putting together meals for the weekend for students in the Williamsport Area School District who qualify for reduced or free lunches.
"Every Friday there are these little bags of food that get distributed to the children and then take it home. At least that way we know that family, whether it's the entire family or just that child, has access to something," Phillips said.
For students at the high school, there is a store stocked with food for the weekend. The middle school sometimes has the store or distribution option, he noted.
Currently the center is providing 1,200 bags per week for the district. Last year, they handed out 42,000 bags.
The center has been able to seek grant funding for the program in addition to donations. The budget for that specific program exceeds the entire budget for the rest of the facility, Phillips said.
"We have donors who will directly apply their donation to that particular program and so we've been absolutely blessed," he said.
Phillips is quick to sing praises for his volunteer staff.
"You know in a society where we think that everything is I want mine, I want mine. These folks are, let me give you mine. I just love our people. I can't brag on them enough," Phillips said.
Looking ahead, Phillips would like to see programs for veterans and some type of after-school support for families and children.
"On the veteran side, we think we have a kind of path that we're a bit excited about working with another foundation. They provide all kinds of respite care for that, so we are developing a corps of veterans here that can work with some of our young ones that are coming back," he said.
"A large percentage of our population are veterans. We really want to honor them and I think the best way to honor a veteran is to give them a mission -- give them a purpose," Phillips said.
One thing Phillips wanted to emphasize is that although WECC is a Christian outreach of St. John's United Methodist Church, the center is not a church and they do not have ministries or church services. There are volunteers who would be willing to talk to patrons about their faith, but "that's your choice. That's not ours," he said.