Trinity Streets: A Sunday afternoon worship service and meal shared by neighbors and volunteers from various faith communities in Austin. Volunteers share prayer, music, food and fellowship with 80 neighbors weekly. Partners in the program include St. David’s, St. George’s, St. James’ and St. Mark’s Episcopal Churches, Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, Trinity Episcopal School, Triumphant Love Lutheran Church, Travis Christian Assembly, First Baptist Church, Yegua Creek Evangelical Free Church and Agape Christian Ministries.

Woman to Woman: A devotion time, breakfast, tea and coffee, and fellowship on Monday mornings. Volunteers serve as personal shoppers, assisting neighbors with shopping for clothes, accessories, and toiletry items from the Center’s clothing closet.  Approximately 40 neighbors participate every week, along with ten to twelve volunteers. On Tuesdays, we offer breakfast for 40 women and financial assistance for 5 women in order to help them get I.D. cards, birth certificates, driver’s licenses, disability fare cards, or prescription co-pays. After financial assistance, there is time for arts & crafts and a yoga class led by a volunteer. In addition, we have a women’s support group called H.E.A.R.T. (Help End Abusive Relationship Tendencies) especially for women experiencing homelessness and domestic abuse (past or present). This program seeks to meet the special needs of women experiencing homelessness.

Neighbor to Neighbor: Drop-in center/day resource center activities for neighbors experiencing homelessness. Wednesdays through Fridays begin with a devotion time (spiritual readings and prayer) and breakfast for 60 neighbors. After breakfast, neighbors come and go throughout the day. Trinity Center provides basic necessities such as restrooms, a place to sit down, a temperature-controlled environment, and beverages. Our chapel is available for individual or small-group prayer.  Neighbors can use our computer lab and phone calling service (local every day and long-distance on Fridays) to maintain contact with family members and friends, to search the Internet, and to seek employment and services. Trinity Center also provides a mailing address and mail service for neighbors. Staff and volunteers also help neighbors one-on-one to learn about and contact social service resources in the community.

Direct Assistance: Small amounts of financial assistance to cover the costs of Texas photo identification cards, birth certificates, school records, or other documents necessary for obtaining a photo ID.  Trinity Center staff and volunteers provide not only funds but also information and guidance to help neighbors navigate the complex process of obtaining identification documents.  This program also assists with prescription medication costs, Capital Metro Disability Fare Cards, and Capital Metro 24-hour bus passes.

Case Management: Intensive one-on-one work where neighbors set goals related to housing or personal stability (education, employment, health care, mental health care, and the like) with a case manager, then work to achieve those goals.  Case management is provided by an AmeriCorps Member via Trinity Center’s partnership with the Keep Austin Housed AmeriCorps project and by interns from the U.T. School of Social Work.

Movie and Popcorn: On Fridays we show a movie with a spiritual or life-affirming theme and serve popcorn. This treat is a welcome respite from the harsh realities of homelessness.

Sack Lunches: Donated lunches containing nutritious, non-perishable food and juice.  The lunches are given to neighbors in special situations where they will not be able to access food, for example, while staying with a loved one in the hospital or while traveling, or when they have medical needs, for example, to attend an appointment or to manage blood glucose levels.

Emergency Cold-Weather Shelter: St. David’s and Trinity Center volunteers offer overnight accommodations and a hot meal in Trinity Center to homeless women and their children on Friday, Saturday or Sunday nights when the temperature falls below freezing.  Trinity Center partners with Front Steps/ARCH, The Salvation Army, Capital Metro, Central Presbyterian Church and the City of Austin in this program.

Collaborations: Trinity Center offers meeting spaceto Texas Reach Out Ministries and the Crime Prevention Institute to provide support and educational groups to help people successfully transition from incarceration into the community. Collaborations with other homeless service organizations include: Art from the Streets, ACCESS Mental Health Services, VA outreach services, and HIV testing offered by the Wright House and CARE.