Summit County Ohio Nonprofit Homeless Outreach
Welcome to Friends in Tents & Community Outreach
LOCATION 594 5TH ST NE BARBERTON OHIO 44203
MAILING ADDRESS 6118 RENNINGER RD AKRON OHIO 44319
About Us
Our mission
Mission - We focus on making the maximum positive effort for our community. Sharing resources with lower income families and Homeless communities.
Vision - We want to be a part of a world where no one goes hungry. A world where everyone attains the right to survival without judgment. We pray for all communities to be treated with respect and kindness. Our hope is for every heart to be full after being in contact with our Outreaches.
501C3 Status
We are a Public Charity.
Donors can deduct contributions under IRC Section 170.
We are qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under Section 2055, 2106 or 2522.
Photo credit to Josh Fitzgerald- 34% https://instagram.com/34th_percent?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
OUR HISTORY
We began in Oct 2019 by gathering coats to take to the Homeless Community after Chris watched a facebook video. Chris and Meggan started to collect coats to take to the outreach who needed help. They gathered about 50 coats within a week and reached out to drop them off.
Chris and Harry were invited to a "Bando" (abandoned house) to drop off the items. They connected with some people living in the house who told them they knew where a camp was that needed some coats. We visited the camp and met the people living there and asked what else they needed......that was the start of it all.
Our visits haven't stopped since then. We began to prepare hot meals weekly, Meggan became our Queen of the 3 ingredient meals and Head Chef. We started to gather donations of supplies to take to our Friends. We were soon thereafter taken to other camps and started to be a trusted confidant with them. Our friendships grew and so did our desire to help.
We have grown from cooking meals out of Chris and Meggans Allstate office to purchasing a shed to continue to be able to store donations in. Along with renting storage units and cooking our of Meggans house. The need continued to grow through the pandemic and so did our need to be in one location!
We have recently found our new home base in Barberton. We now have the ability to cook, collect donations and be open to not only our friends in tents but the local community to help fulfill their needs.
OUR STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS
Christina Patterson - Founder/Outreach Admin
Harry Patterson - Founder/Boots on the ground in camps building Relationships
Meggan Rafferty - Founder/Head Chef
Volunteers -
Gloria Marsh (Auntiegrams) - Head of Donation Organization
Josh Fitzgerald - Photographer who did the 34% photo journey with our Friends in Tents
Beth Pritchard Holland - Medical Volunteer
Gail Gruber McPeake - Nurse Volunteer
Lisa McMeekin - Nurse Volunteer
Peggy Holmes
Ben Osbourne
Linda and Joan Teitsworth
Melissa Johnston
Amber Lee
Nikki Bartel
Loretta Bloch
Melissa Finch
Matthew Myers
Kelly McMath
Bill Holland
Diane Schaber
Nancy Parker Kirby
Thomas Jenney
Terri Pritchard Hall
Michelle Jackson Graham
Allison Martzolf