Mahomet Helping Hands Ministry
Purpose - History - Opportunities to help
Participating Organizations - Additional Information
Mahomet Helping Hands Center
203 Adams Street
Mahomet, IL
Contacts
- Ann Paul, Mahomet Helping Hands President, at 586-3392
- Karen Wilkinson , MUMC contact, at 586-2202 or wwilkinson@mchsi.com
Purpose
Mahomet Helping Hands (MHH) is a community-wide program whose purpose is to provide food and clothing to individuals and families in the community who are in need of help due to financial difficulties or personal disasters. Seventy plus families are served every month.
History
Marian Phillippe, a member of the Mahomet United Methodist Church, was instrumental in founding the organization. She became concerned that there was no organization in Mahomet to give a helping hand to persons in need. The Church social ministry committee, as well as others in the congregation, became interested, and planning was underway. The first giveaway was conducted in the Methodist Church in February of 1983. Marian was quoted in the Mahomet Citizen as saying, “I almost wish we could have the Give Away Saturday some place other than the Methodist Church for the reason I don’t want people to feel that this is Methodist dominated. From the first we wish it to come from the whole community.”
Opportunities to help
Every member of the congregation can be part of this community effort by doing one or more of the following:
- give money – put your change in the canister in the church entry or send a check to Mahomet Helping Hands, P.O. Box 254, Mahomet, IL 61853; MHH can purchase food from the Eastern Illinois Food Bank at very low prices;
- bring canned goods or paper products for MHH to the church;
- drop off good, clean seasonal clothing at the MHH Center on the second Saturday of every month from 9:30 a.m.-12 noon;
- take a gift tag from the Christmas tree to buy a toy for a MHH child;
- volunteer to work at the MHH Center on the second and third Saturday mornings in June for accepting donations and helping with the food giveaway;
- volunteer to transport food items left in the MHH box at the church to the Center.
Participating Community Organizations
American Legion Auxiliary/Mahomet
Bahai Faith
Boy/Girl Scouts
Community Free Church
First Baptist Church
Grace Church
Home and Community Education
Lion’s Club
Lutheran Church of Mahomet
Mahomet United Methodist Church
Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church
Nazarene Church
Our Lady of the Lake Church
Rotary Club
Sangamon Valley Christian Center
Seymour United Methodist Church
Town and Country Women’s Club
USPro
Additional Information
Mahomet Helping Hands is an all-volunteer organization which provides food and clothing assistance to persons living within the Mahomet-Seymour school district. Monthly food giveaways are held for qualifying families or individuals in need of assistance. Emergency food assistance is also available for households in extreme need in between scheduled food giveaways. Donated adult and children's clothing and small household items are always available for Helping Hands recipients to take for their families.
Mahomet Helping Hands does no fund-raising but is supported completely by donations from the churches, clubs and organizations, and citizens of Mahomet-Seymour. These monetary donations allow it to pay monthly rent for its building space, insurance, and all purchased food for the giveaways. There is a voluntary board of directors which meets monthly to oversee the work and business of the organization. The public is invited to participate in Board meetings at the Center on the second Thursday of every month at 7 p.m.
Giveaway is the third Saturday of the month from 9:00 am - 11:30am.