Adam Weiss

Professor Dykstra
COMM 406
24 January 2017
Blog #1

1. What is the organizations mission statement? How does it respond

to the mission of the coordinating council on homelessness?

The organization I chose was the food pantry at Christian Help. The
organizations mission statement is To respond to situations of
emergency and need with immediacy and simplicity, respecting the
dignity of all persons in the spirit of Jesus Christ. I also saw another
mission statement on the website saying, We are an
interdenominational nonprofit located in Morgantown, WV focused in
serving our community and God with social services and events
including: Giving food to thousands of families and their pets.
Showing dozens of individuals their purpose by teaching them faith-
based principles for meaningful employment. Distributing school
supplies and Christmas gifts to hundreds of less fortunate local
children. This statement draws parallels between CCOHs mission
statement in the agenda. Christian help believes the community has
the power to service the less fortunate. The food pantry specifically
provides 3-5 days of meals for families in Morgantown. This ensures
that the homeless get nutrition they need to stay healthy. The CCOH
points to healthcare being a big issue with the Morgantown homeless
because it ends up being expensive. By keeping the homeless healthy,
the food pantry helps the CCOHs agenda.

2. Who is the target audience or demographics that this organization

aims at assisting?

The audience that the food pantry targets is homeless families and
poor families that still have a home. Ive personally volunteered at the
pantry and noticed that the majority of the people it helped werent
homeless. Instead it was people who were recently out of a job or just
didnt have enough money to afford every meal. The pantry fights
homelessness by stopping it before it even begins. Sometimes people
just need a crutch to keep their lives together. Many children came to
the pantry with their parents and would like to make requests for
things like sweets. The things most kids take for granted are a blessing
for these kids. That was the majority of the pantrys audience.
3. What services do they provide? List and describe

Christian help as a whole provides a variety of services for the

homeless and less privileged. The organization believes everyones
story is unique and whether youve been homeless for years or just
need a little Christian help aims to assist. Christian help helps people
from all denominations and works to improve the quality of life for
anyone who walks through the door.
Free Store: There is a store full of community donations of clothes and
household items. Everything in the store is free and is open to the
public
Career Closet: In order to help those less fortunate get a job, Christian
help created a free wardrobe filled with professional clothing. It is
designed for those who cant afford interview clothes get an
opportunity. The staff also provides interview advice and resume help.
Food Pantry: The pantry is stocked with community donations of all
kinds of food. Families can even sign up to receive weekly supplies.
Emergency Financial assistance: Sometimes tragedy strikes at the
worst time. Luckily this program offers immediate support to those who
may need to pay for utilities, prescriptions, and transportation.
Jobs For Life: Christian help offers classes and training to hold a job
through the organization and partners. It has a strong focus on faith
and is proven that the program really does help create strong
employees.
There are also other special event projects the organization puts on like
holiday toy drives, back to school supplies collection, Easter basket
giveaway, and prom boutique.

4. Choose one concept from chapter 2 The Critical Approach. Define

the concept and reflect on how this organization addresses the issue.

One concept that stood out to me in this chapter was that

organizations are political sites of power and control. It is fascinating
how new members spontaneously consent to the direction of the
population. Most of this is cause of a prestigious view within the
organizational hierarchy. Organizations do not take their own direction,
instead they are shaped by the members and stakeholders. The most
important aspect of this is the flow of members. In order to keep
similar values, similar members must be recruited. The members may
not directly display agendas but overtime the organization reflects its
members. So how is power displayed by these members in regards to
the organization? According to scholars Tompkins and Cheney,
members have something called unobtrusive control. This may not
be directly what each member believes, but it is what each member
comes to accept about the organization. Another way to view this is to
see which members identify strongest with the organization. Most
likely, the personal values in those members correlate to the
overarching organizational values. To relate this back to class, I
definitely saw similarities between this concept and the Zappos video
we watched. The CEO of the company wasnt the most outgoing person
or creative. However the company looked like it had a strong focus on
having fun even in the office. He said his role was to organize the
employees and let them be themselves. By doing this, the company
took on a culture that was very employee focused. This resulted in
happier employees and superior customer service. Zappos would be a
much different organization if all the employees were like the CEO. The
power in an organization is with the people.