NEW JOURNEY COMMUNITY OUTREACH

New Journey Community Outreach, Inc. is a non-profit organization that responded to the closing of New Journey United Methodist Church after it merged with another church in 2014.

NJCO took over the responsibility of the church’s ministry to provided food and clothing services to low-income citizens. For decades, New Journey United Methodist Church was the main outlet for social programs for the Southwest Reading community.

NJCO has many services including a soup kitchen, food pantry and clothing center. The soup kitchen serves around 150-200 meals four days a week or about 31,000 meals a year. Their soup kitchen is the largest in the city. On Wednesdays, their food pantry helps to 80-90 families. Their clothing center provides gently used clothing to about 800 families.

The nonprofit also prepared dozens of individuals in back-to-work attire for jobs and offer interview tips. In addition, NJCO is expanding partnerships with the Community Health Center and Tower Health's Street Medicine programs on nutrition and blood pressure.

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NJCO has a staff of four part-time workers and an estimated 600 volunteers who help daily. Volunteer time surpass 7,600 hours a year.