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There was excitement in the air this morning as the Welcome Resource Center, a drop-in center for adults of many backgrounds, celebrated its anniversary with games, snacks, and camaraderie.

Roy Garbutt
"The games, the games, and drawing and watching T.V. all day. I come here for my nerves too to cool off my nerves and keep out of trouble because I'm retired."

Cherisse Halsall:
"Any particular struggle that the center has helped you overcome?"

Roy Garbutt
"Stress, this is a very nice place that's why I come here when I'm stressed out, I come here and take a shower, put clean clothes on in the morning. It's very nice here."

Helen Chavez
"Well I played the game this morning and I was happy to win the game, we always play that game so I know it."

Cherisse Halsall:
"What was your strategy?"

Helen Chavez
"Well to win it., to win the game. Here at the resource center I work here I do cleaning and I like it here. It's a nice place to come and it makes your mind relax."

Joyce Ellis, Administrator, Welcome Resource Center
"They keep coming back because of the name itself, welcome resource center, everyone is welcome and it's a comfortable place for them to relax and spend their time during the day relaxing from the elements and also meeting with people who have similar circumstances like them and share ideas."

Joyce Ellis is the woman in charge of this peaceful and relaxing space. She says the Center is a joy to run and that her primary challenges are financial ones.

Joyce Ellis, Administrator, Welcome Resource Center
"We cater to anyone over 18 mentally ill, homeless, elderly, deportees, addicts."

Cherisse Halsall:
"And how challenging is it to run that range of programs?"

Joyce Ellis
"The challenging part is always the finance in terms of attitude and behavior of the participants who come to the center. We don't have an issue with it so for the participants themselves it's not challenging. The challenging part is more the administrative part when you need to find items and stuff that they need."

"Some of the milestones that we're marking, first of all, we're doing three meals and a weekend bag, that's huge for us because we started with only one meal so we're at 3 meals a day and a weekend bag so that's a huge milestone for us at our 7th year."

Participant Caroline Hamilton certainly belongs and this morning she told us how coming to the center has helped her get out of her own head.

Caroline Hamilton
"It's fun to have a little activity since this coronavirus we could have fun now first we had to be home. I thank God every day that we have something to do."

Cherisse Halsall:
"What do you get out of coming to the resource center?"

Caroline Hamilton
"Peace and happiness because when you come here you find somebody that talks to you and reasons with you so that you can understand situations. Because sometimes when you're at home you're bored, you need to come and organize yourself around other people to feel good."

And it's not just emotional needs. The Center also caters to material needs such as a place to shower and clean clothes.

Anita Moses
"I come to the resource center to bathe because I like the resource center, Anita Moses City, they're on their 8th anniversary."

And to finish off the celebrations a light snack and some TV time for the participants that call the center a second home.

If you'd like to support the work of Joyce Ellis and her team at the Welcome resource center you can contribute To their efforts by giving just $5.00 a month. Your contribution would go directly to their feeding program.