MEET OUR FOUNDER
Launched in 2015 to develop community-based solutions to some of the problems facing the elderly, disadvantaged, and underserved members of our neighborhoods & communities. The vision of our founder, the late Eileen Janice Hardware, was to come up with programs, resources, & services which would enrich, empower, & improve lives.
She would drive through the neighborhoods looking at the conditions right at the doorsteps of her church and shake her head, wanting to do something that would help others. Eileen quickly realized that many of Tucson’s most vulnerable residents experienced food insecurity & lacked having enough to eat for an active healthy lifestyle.
EILEEN HAS A HEART FOR FEEDING OTHERS
Our approach to promoting community wellness begins & ends with community partnerships. Working with local partners Crossroads has confronted food insecurity on several levels providing: community food & clothing distributions, food recovery and redistribution to other food pantries and distribution organizations, contactless delivery via our ePantry to seniors & homebound, and providing weekend meals for school children.
Our Moving Beyond Hunger Project partners with local agencies, grassroots organizations and others to provide an array of comprehensive youth services to support our youth transition from homelessness to sustainable self-sufficiency addressing the following needs: Homelessness, Substance Abuse, Physical/Mental Health, Youth Pregnancy& Childbearing, and Education and Vocational training.
We believe today’s youth are our future, the seeds for community wellness. We also believe community partnerships is a bridge to community wellness.
EXPANDING THE VISION
Our founder’s vision was to have positive, practical programs that helped families, individuals, & communities to begin the process of breaking generational cycles of poverty. Hunger, food insecurity, and community wellness are challenges to be met and confronted. Her vision serves today as the springboard for our Bright Star Community Food Pantry, taking our food pantry distribution directly into where it is needed the most, our communities. This direct community distribution method has distributed over 16,000 pounds of food to over 700 families representing 2,450 individuals. That’s over 7 tons of food distributed to families from community centers.
The heart of Eileen’s vision has expanded to include increased food pantry redistribution methods: ePantry online food distribution and contactless food delivery to seniors, homebound, and others. Our community footprint has expanded to include a partnership with Child Evangelism Fellowship & Youth Haven Ranch to disadvantaged and underprivileged kids to frees weekend and summer camp experiences. Her vision of community wellness has expanded further with the establishment of a new public service to care for the needs of homeless youth aging out of foster care. Providing a public service to our youth and to our communities confronting food insecurity is our core goal and purpose. Our service and ministry begin and ends with Eileen’s vision of programs, resources, & services which enrich, empower, & improve lives. We are honored and humble to continue the vision and legacy of our founder, Eileen J. Hardware: 1946-2018.