Our Programs
Emergency Assistance
Emergency financial assistance is given based on the need for a month of rent, car issues, utility payment or other necessary payments needed that could cause eviction and result in a family experiencing homelessness. We work closely with organizations such as Leaven Fox Cities, Advocap, and Goodwill who also give assistance to individuals within our community needing a helping hand.
Back to School Fair
NMES members collaborative with both the Neenah and Menasha school districts to reach out to children in need. Children are identified by schools, social service agencies and other sources. All of these children qualify for the free lunch program at their schools.
The Fair is held in August of each year. At that time, each child receives a backpack containing supplies and a certificate for a pair of shoes redeemable at Rogan’s. They also receive information about the services offered by other community organizations such as YMCA, Neenah and Menasha public libraries, Boys and Girls Brigade, Best Friends of Neenah-Menasha, LEAVEN, Community Clothes Closet, St. Vincent DePaul thrift shop and Goodwill.
Caring for Kids
For most elementary school students residing in Neenah and Menasha, lunch periods and recesses during winter months involve building forts and playing in the snow. Unfortunately, that is not the case for all students. For students who do not own a pair of snow pants, recesses are often spent standing on the blacktop so his or her clothing does not get wet.
Our Keeping Kids Warm initiative provides warm outdoor clothing or boots to elementary school students who do not have their own. Students are referred to the program by their school principals, teachers or counselors.
Our School Liaison initiative aims to supply local schools' counseling offices and student closets with what students need to make school and home as safe and secure as possible. Our program provides hygiene products, snacks, and school supplies as well as shoes and clothing.
Caring for the Community
NMES collaborates with several local organizations that provide meals to those in need. Valley VNA Senior Care's Meals-on-Wheels program is a volunteer meal delivery service that runs Monday-Friday throughout the year. In 1966, NMES partnered with the VNA to start this program in our community and NMES continues to provide drivers and subsidies to keep costs reasonable for participants.
The Fox Valley Community Table provides a free lunch twice a week at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Neenah to anyone in need. NMES provides funding and volunteers to prepare a meal four to five times per year.
Scholarship
Our newest program, Scholarship, seeks to interrupt the cycle of poverty by helping students in need who may not qualify for traditional scholarships get a degree or certificate in a trade, enabling them to have marketable skills to advance quickly in the workforce.
