Works 4 U, Inc.

So far this year 54 individuals have participated in our Saturday work program! Excluding Super Second Saturdays, we average 17 people per week, all of whom, sadly, are experiencing homelessness either living outside or in a shelter. We usually clean up around the Salvation Army of New Bedford as well as the downtown New Bedford area. This week there was some extra clean up at the Salvation Army thanks to some seagulls that got into the trash and thanks to some road work in the area which delayed the usual dumpster pick up. Our team cleaned it up and the truck was able to get to the yard since it was Saturday.

We wish to thank Jane Babbitt for her generous donation of two 10-person tents! They will be someone’s home for now. Also, thank you to Frank Murphy for providing another work opportunity for one of our crew.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

Thank You!

This month’s Super Second Saturday work program started out rainy but ended with sunshine. We continue to have an average of 17 people who are experiencing homelessness show up for work every week. Our friends from the South Coast Center For Spiritual Living, MA joined us as usual to serve as community mentors. Thank you Debbie, Suzy, and Barbara for braving the rain and making a difference! We did our usual clean up of the Salvation Army grounds and the downtown City of New Bedford area.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

Thank You!!!

Despite humid heat in the 90s, the crew showed up for work and cleaned up the Salvation Army grounds and the downtown City of New Bedford area. We are still averaging 17 people per week who are experiencing homelessness.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

Thank You!!!

Despite the rain, we had a fantastic turnout of 24 people today for our monthly Super Second Saturday event! Three new people joined us this week. Sadly, they are experiencing homelessness and hoping to find jobs soon. At this point in the year, 53 different people experiencing homelessness have worked in our Saturday programs. Joining us this week were three wonderful community mentors from the South Coast Center For Spiritual Living, MA (CSL). The South Coast CSL has been a great partner in helping us mentor those experiencing homelessness in our community by helping them to find hope and purpose in their lives. Thank you Debbie A. Fleet, Suzy, and Dave for braving the weather and making a difference in peoples’ lives today! We hoped to take a group photo, but the rain got really heavy about 10 minutes before we wrapped up. We did our usual clean up of the Salvation Army grounds and the downtown City of New Bedford area.

If anyone has a ten-person tent that they would like to donate, we know a few people from our crew that would be most grateful. You would be providing them shelter by giving them one. Incomprehensively, their tent was burgled and vandalized. The thieves slashed it open with knives thereby rendering it useless. They have been living in the woods in New Bedford for a few years now.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

Thank You!!!

We now have had 50 individuals participate in our Saturday work program this year. Excluding Super Second Saturdays, we are now averaging 17 people per week, all of whom, sadly, are experiencing homelessness either living outside or in a shelter. We usually clean up around the Salvation Army of New Bedford as well as the downtown New Bedford area.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

So far this year 47 individuals have participated in our Saturday work program! Excluding Super Second Saturdays, we are now averaging 17 people per week, all of whom, sadly, are experiencing homelessness either living outside or in a shelter. We usually clean up around the Salvation Army of New Bedford as well as the downtown City of New Bedford area.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

Last week was Super Second Saturday and we had 22 people turn out. This week we had 17 show up for work. They cleaned up the grounds of the Salvation Army New Bedford as well as several streets in the downtown New Bedford area.

Thank you to our community mentors this month: Jack Harmsen plus Debbie and Barbara from the South Coast Center for Spiritual Living (CSL). The South Coast CSL has been a great partner in helping us mentor those experiencing homelessness in our community by helping them to find hope and purpose in their lives. We also wish to thank Frank Murphy again for finding work for two of our crew (one of which is a veteran) pictured this week.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

We had 17 folks show up to work today. All are experiencing homelessness either living outside or in a shelter. We did the usual clean up around the Salvation Army of New Bedford as well as the downtown City of New Bedford area.

We wish to thank the following people for their generosity: Arron Bart for his donation to our Support-A-Saturday program, Frank Murphy for finding work for two of our crew (one of whom is a veteran), and Neighborhood Auto Services, Inc. for taking care of our van and their donation of a tank of gas.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

We had a fantastic turnout for our Super Second Saturday program!!! Our crew totaled 25 plus 5 community mentors!!!

This month we sent a team to help our friends over at the Fairhaven Improvement Association (FIA) for one of their beautification projects. We joined Mr. Frank Fostin from the FIA to help repot the flower boxes outside several businesses in Fairhaven’s center. We also had several teams doing our usual clean up around the Salvation Army of New Bedford and Downtown City of New Bedford.

A big shout out to our community mentors this month: Jack Harmsen plus Debbie, Barbara, Suzy and Melissa from the Center For Spiritual Living, MA South Coast (CSL). The South Coast CSL has been a great partner in helping us mentor those experiencing homelessness in our community by helping them to find hope and purpose in their lives.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment. Our crew are people who are experiencing homelessness yet have the goals of making a positive impact on their community and helping others, as well as proving their value to potential employers. They are talented, hardworking people who are looking for work opportunities if anyone has them.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word.

Thank You!!!

Over the last couple of weeks, we have averaged a crew of 12 people, all of whom are presently experiencing homelessness and are either living outside or at a shelter. We have maintained our approach of splitting into teams and cleaning up the New Bedford Salvation Army grounds as well as the City of New Bedford downtown area. So far this year, 35 people (all experiencing homelessness) have participated in the program with an average weekly attendance, excluding Super Second Saturdays, of 12 people.

You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Alternatively, if you know of a business or individual looking for some extra help, please spread the word. They are talented, hardworking people that are looking for opportunities for regular work if anyone has it. All of our crew have the goals of making a positive impact on their community, helping others, and proving their value to potential employers. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

We are now calling it “Super Second Saturday” when our past and present crew get together once a month to do good for the community. Once a month some of our clients who are no longer experiencing homelessness return to work with the current crew. They have a strong sense of teamwork, a great respect for one another, and a high level of comradery. It also coincides with the monthly visit by our friends at the Center For Spiritual Living, MA South Coast: Debbie, Suzy and Melissa---who served as community mentors this month.

Today, we split into several teams to clean up around the Salvation Army of New Bedford and downtown City of New Bedford. These are hardworking people who care about their community. There are a number of ways that you can help them including becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. People have also generously donated clothing and camping gear to help ease the difficulty that our crew faces living on the street and in the woods. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

For the last few weeks, our core group of people (everyone who is currently experiencing homelessness and living outside) continued to split into teams: a team or two cleaning up the litter in downtown New Bedford, one team cleaning up the grounds of the Salvation Army, and one team cleaning up the Salvation Army cafeteria floors, tables, and chairs. This week one team did some more painting inside the Salvation Army of New Bedford.

They are talented, hardworking people that are looking for opportunities for regular work if anyone has it. All of our crew have the goals of making a positive impact on their community, helping others, and proving their value to potential employers. You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

A huge thank you goes out to Patty Haines who sadly was widowed last year. She donated her husband Richard’s clothing to help others as she believes he would have wished her to do so. A true patriot and a decorated veteran, Rich had a tremendous respect for our country, our citizens, and our veterans. It is an honorable salute to him that his clothes will now be worn by veterans and others in need who call our country home even if they do not have a home to stay in. Thank you Patty and Rich!

Our “Second Saturday” program was a big success. Once a month some of our clients who are no longer experiencing homelessness return to work with the current crew. They have a strong sense of teamwork, a great respect for one another, and a high level of comradery. It also coincides with the monthly visit by our friends at the South Coast Center For Spiritual Living, MA . Suzy and her husband Dave served as community mentors this month. Also, joining us was long-time community mentor Jack Harmsen.

Altogether, we had a group of 23 people who split into several teams to clean up around the Army of New Bedford and downtown City of New Bedford. These are hard working people who care about their community. There are a number of ways that you can help them including becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. People have also generously donated clothing and camping gear to help ease the difficulty that our crew faces living on the street and in the woods. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

A big shout out to the following folks for their kindness and charity:
• Heidi Branco for all the blankets, hats, etc.
• Our Friends at South Coast Center for Spiritual Living for their partnership and continuing support of our mission.
• Frank Murphy for finding work for some of our crew.

Support-A-Saturday Program

Today we had our core group of thirteen (everyone who is currently experiencing homelessness and living outside) split into a few teams: two teams cleaning up the litter in downtown New Bedford, one team cleaning up the grounds of the Salvation Army, and one team cleaning up the Salvation Army cafeteria floors, tables, and chairs.

They are talented, hardworking people that are looking for opportunities for regular work if anyone has it. All of our crew have the goals of making a positive impact on their community, helping others, and proving their value to potential employers. You can help them by either becoming a Support-A-Saturday sponsor or by hiring one of them for any project you might have. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

A couple of weeks ago, Suzy and a couple of friends from the Center For Spiritual Living, MA joined us as community mentors. They join us every second Saturday of the month now for a special expanded crew work project. We are very grateful for their involvement! We now have a weekly project exclusively for those who are currently experiencing homelessness and a monthly project for those who previously experienced homelessness.

Last Saturday, we had several teams working: a couple of groups cleaning up the litter in downtown City of New Bedford, one team cleaning up snow around the grounds of the Salvation Army New Bedford, one team cleaning up the Salvation Army cafeteria floors, tables, and chairs, and one team finishing painting the trim of one of the halls inside.

They are talented, hardworking people that are looking for opportunities for regular work if anyone has it. All of our crew have the goals of making a positive impact on their community, helping others, and proving their value to potential employers. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

📅 Date: Sunday April 7
🕔 Time: 4:00 - 7:00 pm
🏢 Location: The Vault in Downtown New Bedford

Indulge in a night of delicious soups made by local establishments, paired with freshly baked rolls, crisp salads, decadent desserts, and comforting coffee. Plus, quench your thirst at our cash bar with a variety of beverages to choose from! 🥖🥗🍰☕🍹

But that's not all! Your ticket not only grants you access to an endless feast but also includes a unique handcrafted soup bowl created by the talented students at UMass Dartmouth. 🎨🍜

Most importantly, your participation supports a great cause! This event aims to benefit the SouthCoast community in need, ensuring that everyone has access to warm meals during these chilly months. ❄️❤️

🎟️ Tickets are priced at $50 per person, offering an all-you-can-eat experience and a keepsake to cherish forever. Don't miss out on this opportunity to make a difference while enjoying a cozy evening with friends and neighbors. Reserve your spot now! 🎫✨

We're also seeking sponsors to help us make this event even more impactful. If you or your organization are interested in supporting our cause, please reach out to Stacie Hallal-Moussa.

Works 4 U off to a good start in 2024

Another cold wet Saturday in January didn’t discourage our crew for showing up to work. They cleaned up around the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and the streets of downtown City of New Bedford.

We have changed our program to be more focused on immediate need. We now have a weekly project exclusively for those who are currently experiencing homelessness and a monthly project for those who previously experienced homelessness. All of our crew have the goals of making a positive impact on their community, helping others, and proving their value to potential employers. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

If anyone has yardwork, painting, etc. available, we have some hard-working folks to do the job. We are accepting donations of winter gear that we in turn give out to members of our crew who are living outside this winter.

A big thank you to Tracey Maher for donating a box of hand warmers! People stick them all over their chest, back, arms and legs to get a heat boost on a cold night. They also line their sleeping bags with them.

And a big thank you to Charity from The Chic Boutique and her friends for donating coats, hoodies and clothes! They are helping people layer up to keep warm in this cold weather.

Last year we had a total of over 50 individuals (who were experiencing homelessness or who previously had) participate across the year with an average attendance of over 20 people per week! Our average weekly attendance doubled over the 2022 level!

A huge thank you to Charity, the owner of the The Chic Boutique in Fairhaven, for the really nice jackets, hats, and winter clothes she and her friends donated! We have been distributing these and they have made several women experiencing homelessness feel special.

Also, a huge thank you to Debbie Fleet and our partners at the Center For Spiritual Living, MA. They donated a bunch of sleeping bags and winter gear to help keep our crew warm! Debbie and her team will be joining us monthly on the second Saturday to help with mentoring the team.

We had 24 people show up to close out the year cleaning up the grounds at the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and the streets in Downtown City of New Bedford.

Our crew are either currently experiencing homelessness or have experienced it in the recent past. They have joined our group with the goals of making a positive impact on their community, helping others, and proving their value to potential employers. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

If anyone has yardwork, painting, etc. available, we have some hard-working folks to do the job. We are accepting donations of winter gear that we in turn give out to members of our crew who are living outside this winter.

Two days before Christmas and the weather was beautiful. We had a crew of 23 show up and work cleaning up the grounds around the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and the downtown streets in the City of New Bedford.

If anyone has yardwork, painting, etc. available, we have some hard-working folks to do the job. We are accepting donations of winter gear that we in turn give out to members of our crew who are living outside this winter.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

Our crew totaled 23 again today plus two community mentors. We did the usual cleaning up of the grounds around the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA as well as the downtown City of New Bedford. The weather was beautiful!

A big thank you to a friend of ours, Eric Berg, who brought his truck and helped us load up and deliver about twenty wooden pallets. We brought them to a homeless encampment in the woods and they will be used as a base for people to put their tents on so that they are up and off the cold wet ground. They put cardboard or carpet over them to cover the cracks and then put the tent on top. This keeps the water out when it pours down like the other week.

If anyone has yardwork, painting, etc. available, we have some hard-working folks to do the job. We are accepting donations of winter gear that we in turn give out to members of our crew who are living outside this winter.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

Yesterday was a banner day at Works 4 U: Big turn out of workers and Community Mentors, a new Support-A-Saturday project, finishing up the Major’s Project from the Serve-A-Thon, and generous donations from friends.

We had twenty-three people show up to work plus five Community Mentors!!! We did the usual clean-up of the grounds around the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and the streets of downtown City of New Bedford. A big thank you to our friends from the Center For Spiritual Living, MA for traveling a long way to join us. Debbie A. Fleet, Suzy, and Melissa, you are all amazing people!!!
Also, thank you to our regular Community Mentors Jack Harmsen and Tammie Frye for their ongoing dedication!!!

Thank you to Duarte Silva and the South Coast Credit Union for sponsoring a Support-A-Saturday project. Two veterans who are experiencing homelessness were sponsored to paint the front lobby of the main branch of the bank on Union Street in New Bedford.

Thank you to Paul Nosworthy for his expert guidance and leadership of the painting team for the Major’s project! The Major’s project is the centerpiece of the service component of the Serve-A-Thon (fundraising for which benefits the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and Mobile Ministries New Bedford). Three people experiencing homelessness (including a veteran) who have commercial painting experience were sponsored by Works 4 U to conduct the work. They did an awesome job!

We are so grateful to Debbie A. Fleet and our friends at the Center For Spiritual Living, MA. They put on a winter gear and clothing drive for us and collected and donated at least eight backpacks (filled with protein bars, toiletries, and other comforts and necessities), hand & body warmers, gloves, hats, heavy sweatshirts, and winter coats! These will be distributed directly to our crew and any other people experiencing homelessness. Thank you!!!

Very productive day for the Works 4 U crew yesterday! Our crew numbered 24. Additionally, 5 community mentors were involved for a grand total of 29 people participating. We had multiple projects going: The Major’s Project, cleaning up the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MAgrounds, and cleaning up downtown City of New Bedford

The Major’s project is part of the annual Serve-A-Thon which raises funds for The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and Mobile Ministries New Bedford. The fundraiser works like this: local charitable businesses & people donate money, while numerous volunteers participate in community service projects. The Major’s project this year is to paint a large hallway at the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA Building. We have four of our regular crew participating in this project which will be completed this week. Under the expert tutelage of one of our newest community mentors, Paul Nosworthy the team of already experienced painters honed their skills even further. The prepping is all done now and the painting is next. Paul donated his time and expertise, and Works 4 U paid-for/provided the labor for the project. Thank you again to the Major for buying the team pizza.

Joining us as new community mentors who traveled all the way from Boston were Adam Cj Shervo and Kurt Kaski from ADAPT (https://adaptorginc.org/). They jumped right in and led a couple of teams on the cleanup. When we finished and they were getting ready to head back they heard that the Mobile Ministries New Bedford truck which distributes food and clothing to the homeless and needy every Saturday was short on volunteers. They decided to stay and put in the extra innings!

Of course, rounding out the community mentors line-up was the dedicated Tammie Frye, who is also a director on our board. Tammie is with us pretty much every Saturday of the year.

We also wish to thank Frank Murphy for hiring one of our crew to do yard work for him.

If anyone has yardwork, painting, etc. available, we have some hard-working folks to do the job. We are accepting donations of winter gear that we in turn give out to members of our crew who are living outside this winter.

Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

Cold but productive day for the Works 4 U Crew. We had 23 people working today to clean up the grounds around the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and the litter in the downtown City of New Bedford area. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

Most of our crew are living outside. With the cold weather here, many people were looking for warm winter boots and jackets today. Size 10 boots are the most in demand. Large and XL men’s jackets and Large ladies jackets are also much sought after. Hats and winter gloves are always appreciated. We gave out a bunch of sleeping bags today as well as emergency blankets (which are very inexpensive and are used to line the inside of the tent to keep body heat in). Another inexpensive but very highly prized item are hand warmers, which people put all over their body on a 27 °F night like last night to give themselves a heat boost. Of course, if someone has yardwork, painting, etc. available, we have some hard-working folks to do the job.

Mike is back at it again this year making his beautiful holiday wreaths. These are some picks from this year and last year. You can usually find him on weekends over near the Tractor Supply store in Fairhaven. Mike is one of our hardworking crew. If you want to order one or some directly, please call him at 978-799-7201.

Over the last couple of weeks, our crew has numbered over 20 people on average to clean up around the The Salvation Army, New Bedford MA and the downtown City of New Bedford. A couple of Saturdays ago, we were joined by Barbara, Debbie, Suzy, and Nancy from the Center For Spiritual Living, MA who served as community mentors.

Most our crew are currently experiencing homelessness, while some have experienced it in the recent past. If someone has any work for our crew that would be greatly appreciated. They are very hardworking. The weather is getting colder and so their situation is getting much tougher. They would greatly appreciate donations of cold weather camping gear, especially sleeping bags. Our mission at Works 4 U is to end homelessness through employment.

We would like to say a bunch of big thank yous:

Thank you again to our friends from the Center for Spiritual Living for spending time with us and donating the winter clothing!

Thank you to the Baldwins for generously donating the warm winter jacket and the clothes!

Thank you to Janice Rose for knitting the hats and mittens for the homeless. They are beautiful!

Thank you to the Ellis’s for donating the sleeping bags and tents that will help the folks living outdoors stay warm!