On July 17th, Margaret Jones spoke to the North Atlanta club about the history, accomplishments and ongoing work of Nicholas House. As one of the founders of Nicholas House, and its Immediate Past President, she gave us uncommon insight into their mission to provide food, shelter and a variety of social services to Atlanta’s homeless families.

 
Nicholas House provides a wide variety of services to Atlanta’s homeless families. These include transitional housing; Homeless To Homes programs, helping families to have their own apartment; adult education and training; as well as youth programs and aftercare, to follow families for up to two years as a means to ensure their success.

Started in 1982 by members of St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, as an emergency shelter, Nicholas House became the first comprehensive transitional housing program in the state of Georgia. Since its founding, more than 1,500 families have called Nicholas House their home.  Last year alone, they helped 100 families totaling 336 people, 230 of whom were children.

Nicholas House provides a safe, transitional group home for families of any size or makeup in order to keep them intact and off the street. While many other shelters must separate couples, siblings and fathers from daughters or 12 year old boys from mothers, Nicholas House keeps families together, reinforcing them and greatly improving their chances of success.

For over 20 years, North Atlanta Rotary has been proud to support Nicholas House with volunteers and donations. Margaret’s description of their work, and her first-hand stories of the people they’ve helped, was inspiring.