Helping Beltsville's Families with basic life needs--food, housing and jobs

Helping people who struggle with basic life needs.

There are many people in Beltsville who face stiff challenges - and housing is one of the biggest.  It's tough to pay the rent, or the mortgage is huge - and the housing values have tumbled. The utility bills grow every year.  We want to be there to help people who have had some bad luck or may have made some bad decisions.

We saw the needs in Beltsville, so we created the Beltsville Adventist Community Center in 2012. Already, we're involved in hundreds of people's lives, helping them to find security and happiness. Here's a brief list of some of the ways we help.

1. We host an extension office of the Deparment of Social Services for Prince George's County. The county's counselors help people know about different state programs, and then help them apply for assistance. The lines at our facility are short, especially compared with the lines at the main county offices.

2. We have trained volunteers to help people file SAIL applications for food stamps, the temporary disability program, medical assistance, temporary cash assistance, the children's health program, and other state aid.

3. We meet some emergency housing needs with our own resources when the state assistance can't fill the need.

4. We offer job counseling services, teaching how to build resumes, demonstrating interview skills, providing internet accesss to look for jobs, and keeping a small job bank folder.

5. We operate a Food Pantry for emergency food help.

6. We have partnered with the Beltsville Rotary Club and the Beltsville Women's Civic Association to provide weekend food for children. Each Friday we deliver bags of food to Beltsville Academy for Children who get free lunches during the week, so that they won't go hungry over the weekend.