By Rebecca Barnes, Publisher, Prince William Living
Pay the electric bill or buy enough groceries for your children. That was the choice facing Elena, a single mother raising three boys. During the school year, school breakfasts and lunches helped stretch the family’s food budget. Summer changed the equation. The boys were home, the grocery bill increased, and hot weather sent the family’s utility costs climbing.
Elena needed to keep the power on. She also needed to feed her children. She found help at House of Mercy. The Manassas nonprofit has been nominated for the Prince William Living Giving Back Award after 20 years of helping local families meet basic needs while preserving something equally important: their dignity.
From Peanut Butter Sandwiches to Prince William’s Largest Food Pantry
House of Mercy began 20 years ago with a small prayer ministry distributing peanut butter sandwiches to people experiencing homelessness. Today, it operates a Food Pantry, Thrift Store and Donation Center in Manassas. Its mission is to feed, clothe, and pray for people in need while cultivating personal and spiritual growth.
According to Director of Development & Marketing Janis DeVore, who submitted the Giving Back Award nomination, the Food Pantry now serves approximately 80 families each day. Registered clients can receive food every 15 days, including fresh fruits and vegetables, protein, and pantry staples. A Mobile Food Pantry helps bring food to homebound clients who cannot make the trip themselves.
House of Mercy also provides registered families with monthly vouchers they can use for clothing and shoes in its Thrift Store. For a parent trying to stretch every dollar across rent, utilities, food, clothing and other necessities, each expense House of Mercy can help cover leaves a little more room in the family budget.
Helping Children Start School Ready
House of Mercy’s work changes with the seasons. Its annual Back to School Program provides approximately 800 children with backpacks and school supplies, according to the nomination. Later in the year, Christmas with Mercy provides toys and holiday support for more than 1,000 children.
A backpack or Christmas gift may seem small compared with a family’s larger financial struggles. For a child, it can mean walking into school with the same supplies as classmates or waking up Christmas morning knowing someone remembered them.
For a parent already worried about groceries and housing expenses, it can mean one less bill they have to figure out how to pay.
100 Volunteers in a Typical Week
House of Mercy’s impact also belongs to the people who show up to help.
According to DeVore, approximately 100 people volunteer during a typical week in the Food Pantry, Thrift Store, and Donation Center. Over the course of a year, she says approximately 2,500 people participate through regular volunteering, business service days, and special events.
Those volunteers sort donations, stock shelves, assist clients, work in the Thrift Store, and perform many of the tasks required to keep an operation of this size moving. The Thrift Store plays another role in the organization’s model. Proceeds help support House of Mercy’s food assistance programs, while donated clothing and household goods can find new homes instead of being discarded.
Dignity Along With Help
The numbers demonstrate the scale of House of Mercy’s work. Elena’s story explains why it matters. She wasn’t looking for an abstract solution to food insecurity. She was a mother trying to decide how to keep three boys fed while keeping the electricity running during a Virginia summer.
House of Mercy gave her another option. “For families like Elena’s, House of Mercy provides food, support, and a community that genuinely cares,” DeVore wrote in the nomination. That word, dignity, appears repeatedly in the way House of Mercy describes its work.
Families select food. Clothing assistance allows clients to shop in the Thrift Store. Programs are designed to help people meet immediate needs without losing the ability to make choices for themselves and their families.
Twenty Years of Mercy in Action
The organization that began with peanut butter sandwiches now distributes more food than any other pantry in Prince William County. But growth alone isn’t why DeVore believes House of Mercy deserves the Giving Back Award.
It is what that growth allows the organization to do.
Feed a family.
Put shoes on a child.
Deliver groceries to someone who cannot leave home.
Fill a backpack before the first day of school.
Give a parent like Elena an alternative when the household budget simply cannot cover everything. For 20 years, House of Mercy has been helping local families find that alternative.
Which Nonprofit Deserves the Giving Back Award?
House of Mercy is one of the organizations nominated as Prince William Living and Give Back Prince William recognizes nonprofits making a difference throughout Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
Who would you nominate?
Think about the nonprofit whose work you’ve seen firsthand. Maybe it helped your family. Maybe you volunteer there. Maybe you’ve watched its staff solve problems in our community for years. Don’t assume somebody else has already submitted its name.
Nominate your favorite Prince William nonprofit for the Giving Back Award.
Your nomination gives Prince William Living an opportunity to tell another story about the organizations and people helping our community.
About Give Back Prince William
Give Back Prince William works to strengthen our community and increase awareness through education while supporting organizations and initiatives that improve quality of life throughout Greater Prince William.
Learn more about Give Back Prince William.
Keep Reading Local Stories
Prince William Living shares the stories of the people and organizations shaping Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
Subscribe to Prince William Living to meet more of the people and organizations giving back throughout our community.