My Service Learning Partner and Project

I am partnered with Cristo Rey Community Center in Lansing for my service learning project. Cristo Rey is a Catholic Charities Agency whose mission is “to care for the spiritual and social needs of individuals and families by offering services that encourage self-sufficiency and recognize the dignity of the human person.” The community center began in 1968, and has provided services to the community including: “a medical health clinic, prescription programs, senior and community kitchens, youth programs, diversion programs, employment and training programs, counseling programs, direct assistance, food bank, disability services, English and Spanish as a second language classes, and parenting programs.”

Patricia Welling, Administrative Manager at Cristo Rey, told me about a need for some kind of system to keep track of the food bank. They already have databases and entry systems for the actual cash flows, but not for the non-cash items such as food. Since Cristo Rey partially relies on grants from the government, as well as from individuals/companies, they have a need to document every transaction and every individual that they helped. Having these statistics will help maintain aid, as well as help to draw in additional donors. As you may have gathered, document creation that I will be assisting them with is an inventory/tracking database (using Excel/Google) for the food bank.