Florist, laundromat, pantry, clinic: Heart Ministry Center gives 'that next step in life'

West worked at an office job before switching to floral design.

“I love it so much,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine anything else now.”

She also feels like she’s giving back to the community since joining FRESH Floral several weeks ago. The floral shop, now decked out in seasonal finery, is the second of two “social enterprises” operated by the Heart Ministry Center. The mission of the center, at 24th and Binney Streets, is to offer food, health care and a way forward to people severely affected by poverty in the Omaha area.

“I couldn’t find a better place,” West said.

The center grew out of a ministry established by Sacred Heart Church in 1982 and became an independent nonprofit organization in 2002. The center grew in the late 2010s with expanded food pantry services and the addition of a free medical clinic and accelerated in 2020.

The center now employees 50 and includes one of the largest food choice pantries in the state, where individuals can shop for perishable and nonperishable food items. Also on site is the free Monen Healthcare Clinic, which this year added a full-time pediatrician and nurse practitioner.

In addition to FRESH Floral, the center also operates the gleaming, modern Fresh Start Laundromat at 2222 Binney St. It meets a need in the neighborhood and, as the center’s other social enterprise, provides job opportunities for graduates of the center’s Fresh Start job-training program, a 15- to 20-week initiative that helps participants with life and job skills. Both enterprises also direct proceeds back into center operations.

A Goodfellows partner

The Heart Ministry Center is one of several partners in the Omaha area that the Goodfellows program works with to distribute funding. Founded in the 1890s, Goodfellows exists to provide one-time emergency assistance to people in crisis. Since 2020, the Omaha World-Herald and United Way of the Midlands have partnered to administer Goodfellows.

Damany “Dom” Rahn, the center’s CEO, said inflation and the challenging economy are bringing a lot of people through its doors, with record numbers — more than 500 in two days — around Thanksgiving.

“Our community is seeing the effects,” he said. “It’s tight for a lot of people.”

Rick Berger, the center’s chief development officer, said the pantry brings people in the center’s door. Once they’re inside, they can learn about the other services it provides.

During a recent visit, the center’s community area bustled with people, many with children in tow, who had gone through the intake process and were waiting to shop the pantry.

The center’s guiding motto, he said, is dignity for all. Visitors are welcomed with a smile and offered coffee, juice and a pastry while they wait. When they’re called, they are guided through the pantry by staff and the 40 or more volunteers who work at the center each day, either as individuals or through companies or community groups. Greetings and banter rang out in several languages.

Up to a dozen participants in the Fresh Start program also work in the pantry at a given time, storing food, stocking shelves and performing other tasks.

“We couldn’t operate the pantry without their support,” Berger said.

Devin Darrow, who is on track to graduate from the Fresh Start program, said he had heard good things about the initiative and decided to check it out when he needed support to get back on track after some legal trouble.

So far, 148 participants have graduated from the program. Currently, Rahn said, four graduates work in the laundromat and one at the floral shop as a driver. One graduate started at the laundromat, became a lead in the center’s Willing Partner program, another initiative that works to help families become self-sufficient, and recently purchased a house.

“You can provide food, which is a fundamental thing,” Rahn said. “... but it is that next step in life that we all crave.”

‘Next step in life’

Darrow said his next step will be to get a job and become financially stable. The Fresh Start program pays for participants’ rent and other living expenses. But he’s considering a career in human services. Fresh Start includes an aftercare program with a graduate facilitator that helps participants make that jump.

For now, he likes the fact that he is helping others.

“It makes me feel good about myself, and like I’m giving back,” Darrow said.

Down a hall from the pantry, the free health clinic offers medical, dental, vision, physical and occupational therapy and mental health care to the uninsured and underinsured. Last year, the clinic saw 3,500 patients. This year, it’s on track to serve more than 5,000 and save patients $1 million, based on Medicare reimbursement rates, said Conor Berigan, health care director. The clinic includes four medical exam rooms, four dental chairs and a vision clinic.

The clinic, funded by private dollars, partners with other health care providers in the community for specialty exams, medications and lab work, he said. The clinic also covers those costs.

During visits, young children can also stop by the Buffie McCoy Somers Kids Boutique. Inside the art studio, Somers, a retired kindergarten teacher, helps youngsters make colorful artwork, some of which lines center hallways. Children leave with a toy and a book.

Once community members have made their selections from pantry shelves stocked with canned goods and pasta as well as meat, produce and eggs, volunteers help them load their cars.

Berger said the funds the center receives from Goodfellows will provide holiday meal vouchers at five local schools to help families in need this holiday season. Additional support will go through the Willing Partner program to help cover rent and utilities for individuals and families in need.

For giving to Goodfellows, go online to goodfellowsomaha.com or mail to World-Herald Goodfellows c/o United Way of the Midlands, 1229 Millwork Ave., Ste 402, Omaha, NE 68102