big reach center

big reach center

What it’s all about

Big Reach Center of Hope provides families with hope by meeting food, clothing and spiritual needs. The center is a ministry of Greenford Christian Church and serves clients from Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Stark and Portage counties.

Staff: Scott Lewis, founder and director; Lisa Wallace, marketing and donor relations; Chris Russell, volunteer coordinator; and Doreen Gustafson, program development assistant.

Location: On the Greenford Christian Church campus at 11767 Lisbon Road, Greenford.

Big Reach Center has developed various programs to help people in different ways.

369 Give Back: Volunteer time is required for families getting assistance from Big Reach. Families exempt from the program are those with someone in the household working full time. The first three visits are free; succeeding visits require a certain number of volunteer hours. Participants must provide proof of income.

Pay It Forward: People can make monetary donations of any amount when they visit. The program helps families with emergency needs including rent, utilities and prescription drug assistance.

Life Enrichment Education: Free classes are offered to help families improve their lives. Spring classes include couponing, Green Team on reduce, reuse and recycle, Ohio State University series on eating healthy, Mahoning County Career and Technical Center’s career investigation, Ohio Department of Health’s infant massage, Goodness Grows gardening in a bucket class and nutrition.

Special events: The center distributes toys for Christmas and Easter baskets. The back-to-school event for 5- to 15-year-olds of families registered with the center will be Aug. 2 with registration required, which will be from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 5.

Food distribution: From 9 a.m. to noon Tuesdays and 4 to 7 p.m. Thursdays.

Celebration: Big Reach is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. An invitation-only dinner will be April 26 for corporate sponsors and financial partners. Donations will be accepted.

Fund-raisers: Michael Jr. will headline a comedy event at 3:30 p.m. April 27 at the Big Reach Center. Tickets start at $20 at www.bigreachministries.org. A car show is planned July 5.

Donations: Big Reach Center accepts monetary contributions and donations of food, clothing and other items from businesses and individuals.

Contact information: 330-533-3278 and www.bigreachministries.org.