New Visions Homeless Services’ (www.newvisionshs.org) annual Community-Wide Holiday Celebration & Giveaway is set for Saturday, December 17! This will be a drive-through event for Southwest Iowa families to receive assistance with food, gifts, diapers, and clothing to help with holiday expenses.
If you or a family you know would like to receive help through this event, contact Stephanie for the signup link or call (712) 322-7570. You may also email giveaway@newivisionshs.org with question about how to donate or get involved.
New Visions was founded in 1995 in Council Bluffs by Reverend Harry and Ginny Wallar with a mission of feeding the homeless and hungry. Beginning as the “Mobile Kitchen”, New Visions provided nightly meals to the homeless and hungry from a bus under the Council Bluffs viaduct. Two years later, a new facility named “MOHM’s Place” was built to provide thousands of meals annually to hungry men, women, and children. As community need increased, MOHM’s Place expanded and began providing shelter, transitional living, increased meals, and support services for the homeless. In September 2008, New Visions built the “New Visions Complex” in Council Bluffs as the first facility in Southwest Iowa that provided a 62 bed men’s shelter, 26 permanent supportive housing facility for single men and single women, a meal site that would seat 250, and an administration building for the homeless and near-homeless. In 2012, “New Visions Omaha” was built, providing 26 transitional living units for veterans at no cost to the veteran and an additional 14 permanent supportive housing units for the veterans to discharge to if they are still in need of supportive services. The campus is the only facility of its kind in the Midwest. In both locations, clients are provided with individualized case management, therapy, job training, budgeting education, and community support services. To learn how to offer your support, www.newvisionshs.org.