by Ermine Laurence, Director

In late 1982 and early 1983, Lake Granbury Ministerial Alliance had families going from church to church asking for food. They decided to start one common place for the people to go and to provide assistance to this place, so Lake Granbury Inter Church Agency d/b/a People Helping People was formed. The priest of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in Granbury, Fr. Charles Hough, was the president of the association making the plans.

Close to this same time, my husband had died and I had retired from work. I needed something to do and that was my beginning with People Helping People (PHP). As is often the case in the beginning, we had financial problems. Faith--if you don't have faith, you find out about it in a hurry here. It is amazing how prayers are answered. Sometimes we have to follow a different road, but we have gone forward in every way. Many doors have been opened for us.

One of these doors was the Jubilee Ministries. In our early days, "815 Second Avenue" sent two couple to evaluate our agency. We became a Jubilee Center. One of the first large amounts of money PHP received was from the Jubilee Mission Board. That brought tears and thanksgiving.

Some years ago, the Jubilee Ministry sent out lists of other Jubilee Centers and I spent a lot of time on the telephone talking to the Centers about their operation and how to accomplish our goals. In the '80s and early '90s, I visited many places for Jubilee meetings and evaluated the Centers. Everywhere I went, i came back with new ideas. This was a learning experience for me.

We have received monies from Jubilee many times. Occasionally we hear they have money for certain projects. If we are eligible, we apply. It has helped us through many times of trials and tribulations.

It is difficult for people to believe we are all volunteers and have always operated on private donations - no government funding. Our average age is 70 years old. Some work four days a week - some just four hours a week. We occasionally have some workers on the weekend to handle special projects.

We have been here long enough to see the end of the story. Anyone in charity work knows it is easy for a "burn out"! When we hear the good things that have happened to our families, it makes our work all worthwhile.

As you can see, Jubilee Ministries has been a tremendous blessing to us.

About People Helping People:

• It was started in 1983 by the Granbury Ministerial Association
• Ermine Laurence was the first Executive Director and is still filling that unpaid position
• All people working at PHP are volunteers. The only pay is the satisfaction of helping and caring for their clients.
• PHP does not have any income other than contributions. They are not financed by any governmental agency--county, state or federal.
• Any money earned from items contributed to PHP and sold through the resale shop goes to buy food for their clients.
• PHP gets food from the Tarrant County Food Bank. Some of the food is free and some is purchased at discounted prices.
• PHP is governed by a Board of Directors made up of people representing various cooperating churches.