Senior Service Program:
From the very beginning, we wanted to assist our senior citizens living on a fixed income with their rent or utilities through the profits of the store. Many of our seniors struggle to pay their rent or utilities and are limited to any extra income before losing their medical benefits. By volunteering at the store, they can give back to the community, have something to do with their time and make friends. In appreciation for their service, for every 10 hours they volunteer we assist them with $50.00 toward their rent or utilities with a maximum of $100.00 a month. 

 
Our first senior began in July and since then we have had 44 people take advantage of this program with $4368.00 spent toward rent or utilities for their volunteer hours. 

 
We love seeing our seniors come back month after month, some will volunteer more than their allowed hours because they enjoy it so much. We have opened this program to anyone who wants to volunteer and needs assistance with their bills since it has been so successful.

Good Samaritan Program:
Our Good Samaritan Program is supported by local churches and kind individuals who want to help those struggling to pay their rent or utilities. Although we want to help everyone we can, we have been limited to helping the first 5 families on our financial assistance days. Since the success of the store, we have been able to increase those who we assist to the first 7 families. 

 
To date, Common Threads has put $4,181.11 into The Good Samaritan program to allow The Family Center to help more individuals with their rent or utilities. We hope by Christmas time, we can serve the first 10!

Supplemental Food Pantry:
On average, The Family Center serves about 300 families from our supplemental food pantry each month. While majority of what we distribute is donated by this generous community, often we run out of essential items such as toilet paper and peanut butter and must purchase these items. Sometimes we do not have the funds to purchase these essentials and the shelves sit empty.

Since December, Common Threads has put $1393.70 into The Family Center pantry fund and we have been able to keep the shelves stocked with items we normally run out of!

Paid Employee:
While Common Threads is run by volunteers, part of our mission was to have an outlet for part time employment to help families earn a living and not rely on government assistance. These positions give people a chance to gain work experience in a retail setting along with mentoring the individual to increase their knowledge skills and abilities.
Common Threads currently has one part time employee and we are in the process of hiring another individual.

Another outlet for volunteers:
One of our goals was to have another outlet for people to volunteer either for TN Promise, community service requirements or just to give back. Many times, The Family Center cannot accommodate a large number of volunteers or we have limited hours. We are very pleased with the number of volunteers that help keep the store running.
Common Threads has 25 regularly scheduled volunteers and countless individuals who are only required to volunteer for a certain number of hours.

Items for Free:
Although our prices are very low, many families we serve still can't afford them. Families who experience fires, are homeless or jobless struggle to clothe themselves and their families. We love that we have the flexibility to still give items away for free. In January, we created a voucher system to track the number of families we served in this capacity. Also, unsold items are brought back to The Family Center and given away in our lobby.

Since January, we have served 12 families with free items from the store to help them get back on their feet.