"Everybody has a story.

When I was a child, people sat around kitchen tables and told their stories. We don’t do that so much anymore. Sitting around the table telling stories is not just a way of passing time. It is the way the wisdom gets passed along.”

Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories That Heal
By Rachel Naomi Remen, MD

As we approach this holiday season, many of us look forward to gathering around our own kitchen tables, preparing special foods, recounting memories of holidays past, and cherishing the company of those who encircle our table. Here at Ann’s Heart, we are reflecting with tremendous gratitude on the warmth and generosity of this kind of alchemy.

Amidst the extraordinary challenges of this pandemic, our own hearts have been warmed by the power of connection, collaboration, and sheer will power of our vibrant community that persistently powers our mission to provide a place of welcome and human services to all Phoenixville area people.

Because of your volunteer efforts, participation in our virtual fundraising events, and generous donations in so many forms, we have opened up a new door at the HEART - the HEART Kitchen. Boasting more than 4,000 sq. ft. of totally renovated kitchen and hall space, we look forward to all of the ways it will serve the community. Less than a week after our official kitchen certification, the HEART Kitchen provided more than 50 Thanksgiving dinners to individuals and families in our community, thanks to our partnership with Phoenixville Area Community Services (PACS) and Uncle B’s BBQ. In addition, thanks to our incredible friends at Your Mom’s Place, we hosted a free breakfast to area homeless and anyone in need on Thanksgiving morning. The freshly painted and furnished spaces inside the HEART are already providing welcome space for support circles, networking, collaboration, and non-profits that serve the Phoenixville area. And thanks to you, our organization continues to operate the Code Blue Overnight Emergency Warming Center, which served 65 of our most vulnerable neighbors last year and is now open for our sixth season.

As we celebrate this year’s milestones and look back over the last five years of Ann’s Heart, we ask you to support our growing initiatives as we look forward to the next five! Whether it is support for our Code Blue Overnight Emergency Warming Center, providing shelter for those in need, or the HEART which provides space for our community to grow through education, all of these efforts will flourish only with your support during this giving season.

We look forward to the wisdom and warmth of our future gatherings with you at the HEART! You are part of our story and the reason why we have come so far.

With gratitude from our kitchen table to yours,

Kristen McGee
Executive Director
Ann's Heart

Help to Provide a Place of Welcome

We recently sent our our Year End Giving Letter and Update via mail. If you do not already receive this and would like to be added to our semi-annual mailings, please CLICK HERE to add your name to our contacts list.

Year End Updates & Announcements

We are on a mission

to provide a place of welcome and human services

to all Phoenixville area people.

In 2018 we set out to re-imagine the vacant Sacred Heart Elementary School into the Home of Education, Arts, Resources, and Technology (HEART) - a community education center. This year, thanks to the hard work of many volunteers, the generosity of your contributions, and the support of several organizations, we opened the doors of the HEART!

While opening a community center during a global pandemic was not part of the plan, we worked hard to ensure the space and the effort did not go to waste.

Over the course of the spring and summer, we completed renovations on the 2nd and 3rd floors to create welcome spaces for partner nonprofits to hold much needed programming.

Our classrooms on the 2nd floor are hosting nonprofit programming focused on supporting educational opportunities. Our heART Room was lovingly created by Barnstone Art for Kids, offering colorful space for art therapy classes and creative initiatives. Crescendo is utilizing our Huddle Room for their music education classes, offering free violin lessons to area children. Our spaces are now available to the community for classes, meetings, and educational programs.

In partnership with our resident nonprofit, Trellis for Tomorrow, we launched the Hall Street Community Garden. This collaborative project saw neighbors working with our two nonprofits to create a productive vegetable garden providing fresh produce to our community. And in just its first year, it produced almost 600lbs of produce!

We began our year ready to take on many new projects, including the largest renovation - turning the cafeteria into a teaching kitchen and community meal space. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the incredible support of our sponsor, Kimberton Whole Foods, our vision became a reality over the course of the summer. The HEART Kitchen was officially certified in early November!

On Christmas Eve, the HEART Kitchen will provide its second community meal to any individual or family in need this holiday. In partnership with our friends at Phoenixville Area Community Services (PACS) and Uncle B's BBQ, we will provide a fully cooked Christmas Eve dinner to take home!
If you or someone you know could use a Christmas Eve dinner, please visit https://www.annsheart.org/christmas-dinner to sign up.

The Code Blue Overnight Emergency Warming Center continues to provide a cold-weather, overnight safe space for men, women, and families.

Now in our 6th season, our Center will remain open through April of 2021, seven nights a week, from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM. We assist our most vulnerable community members by offering warm meals, access to showers and laundry, and keeping our guests safe and warm overnight. Ultimately, our goal is to work towards finding longer-term shelter, transitional or permanent housing, employment opportunities, and other resources for our guests.

Since opening our doors in January of 2016, we have served more than 250 Phoenixville area residents.

With new challenges presented by the current pandemic and the growing concern over an increase of evictions, we need your support now more than ever to ensure we can provide a safe place to sleep and the resources necessary to help get our guests back on their feet. This year we are partnering with fellow non-profit Open Hearth Inc. to provide case management services on site. By bringing these services directly to our guests, we are helping to improve outcomes and reduce barriers.

BECAUSE OF YOU

we can do more...

We have accomplished so much over the last five years thanks to your support. But we are not done yet!

Ann's Heart is looking forward to the NEXT five years and how we can put our spaces to work in the community. Help us continue to realize our vision and make a big impact.

Visit our website to learn more about our next big initiatives as part of our Five & Forward Campaign.