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About Memorial Assistance Ministries
In 2010 we provided 43% more assistance to our clients than in the previous year.
Our new Employment Certification Program benefitted more than 40 clients in 2010.
1,277 families received rental assistance in 2010.
In 2010, 440 children received free immunizations.
We’ve expanded our ESL program to include a third location offering evening classes.
In 2010, the resale store generated $922,112 to support MAM.
The Back to School program provided clothing for 3,400 children in 2010.
In 2010, 465 children received toys for the holidays through the Christmas Share program.
The I Can See program provided 501 children with eyeglasses in 2010.
In 2010 1,100 people volunteered at MAM for 55,000 hours – or the equivalent of 26 full time employees!
The purpose of Memorial Assistance Ministries (MAM) is to help families and individuals who find themselves in temporary crisis and in need of assistance to maintain self-sufficiency and avoid homelessness. As a tax-deductible Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, MAM provides emergency and financial assistance and other services designed to put clients back on their feet, largely the working poor faced with immediate and critical personal and family situations.
MAM staff and volunteers provide immediate assistance and intervention to help clients who are in crisis. Clients receive emotional support and encouragement and are actively engaged to reflect on the underlying cause of the crisis and capacitated to work towards a stable financial future. MAM volunteers and case managers ensure that clients are linked to MAM programs and other appropriate community services.
MAM programming is divided into three areas: Family Assistance Programs, Self-Sufficiency Programs, and Programs for Children in School. Our goal is to assist Houston families so they can be stable and healthy, with the means to meet their basic needs and improve their economic security.
MAM's member congregations include 29 area churches which help support our organization in a variety of ways. Assistance is provided solely on the basis of need, without regard to race, creed, color or religious affiliation.
MAM’s programs are supported with proceeds from the MAM Resale Store, which is a distribution point for clothing and household goods for qualifying families, and generates more that one-third of MAM’s non-capital revenue. The Resale Store is also a contact point through which MAM touches the whole community including customers, in-kind donors, current clients, and MAM families emerging into self-sufficiency.
MISSION
Our mission is to assure that families have the means to meet their basic needs.
VISION
To carry out our mission, we assist families facing financial crisis to avoid homelessness, offer programs enabling long-term financial self-sufficiency, assure children an improved school experience, facilitate client access to other support networks, and provide value to our member congregations and the community.
VALUES
As responsible stewards, we are grounded in faith, offering hope, preserving dignity, and open to all.
In the area served by MAM:
- In 33 of the elementary schools, over 90% of the children come from economically disadvantaged families
- 30% of renters met HUD criteria for moderate to severe rent cost burden. Renters with moderate rent cost burden pay 31-50% of their income to rent and utilities expenses. Those with severe rent cost burden pay more than 50% of their income to housing expenses.
- An independent study of MAM’s assistance program found that 79% of families who receive rent assistance from MAM remained housed three months later.
In the City of Houston:
- An uninsured family of three with a $43,000 household income does not earn enough to support themselves in Houston, but they also do not qualify for WIC, reduced-price school meals, Food Stamps, Medicaid, CHIP, or child care assistance.
- In 2008, half of the eligible poor in this city went without essential food assistance.
In Harris County:
- In 2005, 3,791,000 Texans lived below poverty level and one in every six of those Texans lived in Harris County.
- 31.4% of the population has no medical insurance.
2010 MAM ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- 4657 families received MAM services
- 212 students completed ESL classes
- Lights and water stayed on for 806 families
- 3641 children went back to school with new uniforms and/or school supplies
- 1277 families avoided eviction and remained in their homes
- 500 individuals received prescriptions and doctor visits
- 585 people received job coaching to improve employment options
- Preventive healthcare at MAM keeps workers on the job and children in school
MAM Publications & Forms
2010 Annual Report | 2010 MAM IRS 990 Form
2009 Annual Report | 2009 MAM IRS 990 Form
2008 Annual Report | 2008 MAM IRS 990 Form