For those who need help getting back on their feet after losing a job, battling drug or alcohol addictions, or just making some wrong choices in life, a local charity is looking to change lives.

Faith and Hope Reach Out Center will start a new program next week that will help people get the services they need to get back on track. On Tuesdays and Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m., the outreach program will be taking applications for food stamps, Medicaid and any another type of assistance that is needed.

Angela and Tre Allen run the Christian-based youth ministry at 501 S. South St. Their ministry began in 2008, with the House of Recovery, which helps women with addictions and their children. It’s a two-year program that includes spiritual counseling, a work program and job training. Right now, the home is full.

The Reach Out Center on South Street is targeting youth and trying to catch them young. They opened at that location in February.

“It’s just a place where we can change lives and turn lives around,” said Angela Allen. “We are going to be a center point. We are going to be helping the client with applications for food stamps and Medicaid. We are going with families hand in hand to help them get what they need.”

Allen said she got the idea for the program expansion from the children they are working with now. She said many of the kids come from broken homes.

“What greater way for us to stay with these kids, stay with their families, help them in services they need. Besides just coming here and getting their bellies fed and leaving, that’s not fixing the situation,” Allen said.

She wants to assist people with finding jobs and housing. She said a lot of people who come to the center, walk there and do not own cars. She said they don’t have a way to even get to Dobson to apply for basic human services. So to make sure those people are still able to get the services they need, Allen is going to have the applications at the Reach Out Center. She will help them fill out the paperwork then mail it in to the proper agencies.

“We get them the appointments. We will take them to their appointments. We will link their kids with programs such as WIC, Baby Love, whatever they need — we are just going to be a hub for that. It’s going to be like a one-shop stop.”

Allen said the program will help people get assistance in education and employment. She also can point people to different programs in the area such as Lifeline Pregnancy Center or the Shepherd’s House, a homeless shelter for women and families.

“Our goal is to help individuals who are caught up in the cycles of poverty, homelessness and addictions by meeting their spiritual, emotional and vocational needs,” Allen said.

She also is going to help people with life skill training, such as budgeting skills. The program also will be providing additional help with Narcotics Anonymous classes. In August, those will be held Monday through Friday at noon each day.

“Everything has been going great so far. We have been feeding about 20 to 25 families per week. We are just changing lives through God’s grace. That’s what we want to strive to do. That’s what our center is — it’s going to ensure that our clients develop a deep understanding of their problems and what has caused it. We are going to help them with coping skills and everyday life skills so they can manage their life and be productive citizens here in our community,” Allen said.

The center is still in need of volunteers and donations of food, paper products and cleaning supplies.

A local church, Northside Baptist Church, donated a 15-passenger van for the center to use for its summer program and it also will be used for transportation for other programs. She said the center has received a lot of support from Payne’s Chapel Church.

The first of August, the center will be opening as Christian Junction on Friday and Saturday nights for kids 13 and older. The program will feature live bands, food and video games.

“It will be a Christian environment for kids to come hang out where they are not on the streets,” she said.

This summer, Faith and Hope Reach Out Center have hosted 30 kids in a summer camp. The camp provided kids who wanted to get out and be active this summer, but couldn’t afford some of the other summer programs being offered at local community centers. The program was provided free of charge.

For more information about the Faith and Hope Reach Out Center, call 757-8330.

Contact Mondee Tilley at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.