For over 40 years, the Julian Center has provided a safe haven for thousands of women and children, and recently began offering services for men as well. For victims of abuse, whether it be physical, emotional, mental, or financial, the Julian Center has given many hope and a chance to begin a new life. In 2016, Julian Center helped over 7,000 people through its emergency shelter, transitional housing, and outreach center. Through a holistic approach and multiple services including an empowerment and counseling center, housing, outreach, counseling services, legal advice, medical care a thrift store, safety planning, a food pantry, training seminars and workshops, and other services, the Julian Center provides essential assistance to those suffering from abuse and violence.
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. With that in mind, we wanted to highlight our partnership with Julian Center to help raise awareness around this critical issue.
Julian Center Board of Directors.
For 15 years, Lillian Brown has worked at Julian Center, with jobs ranging from a child advocate, to family advocate, to Client Services Manager, to Director of Operations. While Second Helpings and the Julian Center had a strong, established relationship before she began her current role as Director of Operations, Brown grew the relationship. Now, Second Helpings serves 600 meals each week to Julian Center. “It normally provides a main meal, whether that be lunch or dinner,” Brown stated.
In addition, the Julian Center also comes to pick up redirects twice a week. Redirects are food product that cannot be used in the hunger relief kitchen but can be sent out to other agencies to be used for feeding purposes. “On Thursday, we go and see what’s available and pick up whatever we may need. On Friday, there are handpicked items. Melissa (York, Hub Coordinator) and Patty (Cortellini, Agency Relations Manager) know what we need and pick those items for us as a result.” Brown praised the hot meals, as well as the importance of the redirects. “That redirected food we receive helps support our outreach center and helps stock our food pantry, which serves clients for up to two years after they‘ve received assistance from us. Redirects also provide food for sack lunches, other meals, children’s programs, and other training.”
Second Helpings meals also teach an important lessons. “For some families, they’ve never seen some of the foods, especially the fruits and vegetables. We encourage them to try the diverse foods and try to have their children eat them as well.” Brown says that most of the time, they like the meals. “They particularly really enjoy the meatloaf, Salisbury steak, and chicken!” She noted that after the meal is served, individuals and families say, “Thanks for the great meal.”
The meals and redirected food provide a huge lift to the agency. “Both help us enormously. Without Second Helpings, our budget would be ‘out of the roof’ in terms of food costs.” Brown sees the benefit of Second Helpings, not only to the Julian Center but to the Indianapolis community overall. “For kids, especially those on school breaks, those meals are huge. They’re a huge benefit to those kids who many not receive a hot meal otherwise. Second Helpings truly helps – every agency that is a part of Second Helpings is elated to be receiving those meals.”
She summed it up in a few words – “As long as Second Helpings continues to serve, I’m happy.” For those suffering from abuse, the Julian Center is there to serve them and Second Helpings is happy to help.
Are you interested in sending meals to the critical programs provided by Julian Center? It costs just $1.05 to prepare and send a meal to people in your community affected by domestic violence. How many lives will you impact today?