What brought about this dream? Ginny knew first-hand how difficult it was for a person receiving mental services to be able to afford any kind of home furnishings, as she is the mother of an autistic daughter. As her daughter grew older and was ready to live in her own apartment, one without any support services, she would receive only about $600.00 per month to cover all of her living expenses. Ginny saw how this small monetary income severely limited the things that her daughter and her friends could afford to outfit a new home.
So, what did Ginny do? She started collecting furniture that she saw discarded along the roadside and storing it on her front porch. As you can image, her collection quickly outgrew her allotted space, so a friend recommended her seek out storage space at Mission Central. The staff there was extremely supportive of Ginny’s mission, giving her a dozen pallets to store her finds. In January of 2007, “New Digs” was the official name of Ginny’s dream. Word spread quickly across the children’s mental health network in Cumberland and Dauphin counties, causing her to seek out more space and more help. In no time at all, a Board of Directors was formed and Ginny’s mission became New Digs Ministry, Inc.
Today, New Digs has been fortunate enough to expand and assist a variety of different people in need, from those that are recovering from physical losses, such as fires or floods, to those starting over from rehabilitation, prison, domestic violence shelters, and so on. New Digs works on a referral system from clergy members, hospital staff and other community organizations. Most recently, the ministry has received the most referrals for U.S. Veterans returning from combat and working through rehabilitation or recovering from hospitals.
New Digs fills a need to assist those who are disadvantaged when making life’s most sensitive decisions. Starting over is never easy for anyone, but those with limited assets will find it most challenging.
We are prepared to receive, store, and issue materials that are required to “move in.” Limited funds make it difficult to start over. Our collected materials will be made available to those in need without consideration to the ability to meet any financial obligations. The materials are received through free donations, and the materials are distributed in the same fashion.
The most desirable method of receiving the materials is to have our friends of New Digs transport the materials to our warehouse that is located within Mission Central. The folks at Mission Central of 5 Pleasant View Drive in Mechanicsburg have graciously donated storage space to New Digs. However, there may be times when the delivery is not feasible. In those cases, folks may contact our Missions Coordinator (Ginny Jones) to make arrangements to have the materials moved to Mission Central.
Our recipients all come to us by way of the appropriate agencies. Some of those agencies are New Hope Ministries, Cumberland and Dauphin County MR/MR, Children and Youth, local churches, and others that might recognize the special needs of our citizens. Since we have limited capability, we will regard this method of selection of recipients and no other can be accepted at this time. A representative of the requesting agency will be required to contact us. This will insure that we have a need to fulfill, and reduce the communications problems that sometimes occur when crossing agencies.
To learn more about New Digs Ministry, Inc., check out their website at http://newdigsministry.org/.