Radical Hospitality
Social Services
Services Offered
In addition to enjoying nutritious and professionally-prepared meals, our guests can access a variety of life-stabilizing services delivered by our team and our partner organizations.
Lunch: Monday through Friday 11:30am - 1:15pm
BSM’s meals are open to anyone who wishes to dine with us. We are especially focused on creating an inviting and safe atmosphere for individuals who are experiencing homelessness or deep poverty.
Even though ensuring that our guests have at least one nutritious meal on the days that they join us is an important goal itself, we also see the meals as a way to develop and sustain our guests’ trust over time. This often leads to a greater willingness on their part to access the various stabilizing social services that complement most of the meals.
Mail: Monday through Friday 11:30am - 3:00pm.
BSM’s mail service began in 2008 to meet a few guests’ need for a secure place to receive their mail. Ten years later, more than 5,000 people call BSM’s address their own, enabling them to establish residency, get identification, search for employment, and receive benefits.
One of our mail participants said, “It helps me get benefits. It’s a mainstay of communications with various members of my family. Gets me a feeling of permanence. Gives me comfortable feeling.”
Signing up for a mailing address is often the first step toward transformation, and handling, sorting, distributing, and delivering all that mail in a patient and trauma-informed way takes a lot of time and person power! We’re always looking for more of that rare breed of people who can alphabetize and smile at the same time. A rare feat!
If you would like to help sort or distribute the mail (with a smile of course), please contact: volunteer@broadstreetministry.org or 215-735-4847×106, or sign up online here.
When:
Monday – Friday
11:30 am – 3:00 pm
***ID sign-ups every first Tuesday & Wednesday of each month***
Where: Downstairs in the Big Room
Contact Aaliyah at aaliyah@broadstreetministry.org or 215-735-4847 ext 103 if you have questions. If you would like to receive your mail at BSM, just come by during our service hours and we will set you up with an address.
If you are an attorney or prison social worker or discharge planner and would like to apply for a Pre-Release Mail Account for a client with an expected release date within the next six months, please contact our Director of Reentry Services, Michael McKee at 215-735-4847, ext 116, or at michael@broadstreetministry.
Concierge/Case Management
Our concierges are available Monday through Friday during meal and mail hours. They assist guests in navigating complex systems and services to achieve their goals, including obtaining benefits, identification, medical care, behavioral health care, and housing.
ReEntry/PreEntry Services
We understand that “coming home” brings its own challenges, whether an individual has been away for a week, 40 days, or 40 years. Our re-entry support includes case management help, obtaining an ID, emergency shelter, connecting with an attorney or P.O., finding work, registering for a mailing address, expungements, medical clinic access, and free clothing and personal care items. Learn More
Mobile Community Hygiene Truck
The Mobile Community Hygiene Truck visits partner sites throughout the city on a weekly basis providing personal care produces free of charge and connecting individuals to medical care.
The Mobile Community Hygiene Truck takes Broad Street Ministry’s personal care program on the road as it distributes free personal care items such as soap, deodorant, toothpaste and more to individuals at partner sites throughout the City. Through a strategic partnership with Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, the truck now features a new built-in telehealth component that can connect Philadelphians to primary medical care.
Please email shahid@broadstreetministry.org if you would like more information about the Mobile Community Hygiene Truck.
When: See calendar for details.
When:
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Personal Care: Wednesday 11:30am - 2:00pm
One of the many hardships for our guests, who are living outdoors in the city, or do not have a permanent place to live, involves personal hygiene.
Some of the most basic items to maintain this are often difficult for our guests to obtain. This is especially true during the winter months when it is essential to have clean, dry socks and undergarments. Other essentials – like soap, deodorant, toothpaste and toothbrushes and other toiletries – are just that, essential all year round. Our personal care team that includes staff and a cadre of volunteers have developed an ordering and fulfillment system that is both efficient and trauma-informed.
Please email donate@broadstreetministry.org if you would like to donate items to our personal care “pantry”, or contact our Volunteer Coordinator volunteer@broadstreetministry.org, (215-735-4847 ext. 106) if you would like to volunteer to help out with this important work.
When: Wednesday
Where: Sanctuary
Clothing Boutique: Thursdays 11:30am - 1:00pm
Our Clothing Service is a large walk-through experience in our Sanctuary that is continually stocked with donated clothing.
We employ an appointment system to invite our guests to select up to three items of clothing. The inventory is constantly updated and replenished by volunteers, who also help with sorting the clothes and storing the ones that are out of season.
BSM’s vision of radical hospitality where everyone who comes through our doors is treated with respect and dignity and is a valued member of our community is emphasized in the Clothing Service. We only offer our guests gently used, clean clothing; clothing that is appropriate for each guest’s unique situation.
When: The Clothing Service offers clothing during services by appointment. Appointments are made on Wednesday for Thursday services.
Where: The Clothing Service is located on the 2nd floor in our Sanctuary during the pandemic.
If you are interested in donating, please contact us by emailing donate@broadstreetministry.org
Because of our limited space and resources we have guidelines can be found here that will help us get your donations to our guests in the most efficient manner.
Mending: Thursdays 11:30am - 2:00pm
For more than twelve years a wonderful cadre of some sixteen women have come to our lunch services each Thursday in groups of two or three to offer free mending services to our guests.
This has become one of the services our guests count on, not just for the mending, but also for the kind words and encouraging smiles that greet each one who comes to the mending room with a favorite item of clothing that needs attention. Our Menders are always ready to welcome new volunteers, so if you have basic (or even advanced!) sewing skills, get in touch with Justin Hart at blappen@icloud.com and he will get you into the mender rotation.
When: The Menders come every Thursday that isn’t a national holiday.
Where: The Mender sewing room is located directly across from the Mail & ID counter.