YWCA Columbus is dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedom, and dignity for all. In 2005, YWCA Columbus responded to a community call to take over emergency shelter and services for families without homes. The 50-room Family Center offers these families safety, support, food, and a warm, secure place to sleep. Support for this Better Together project provided meals to families experiencing homelessness at the Family Center. With their basic needs covered, parents can concentrate on utilizing the Family Center’s job and housing resource services to help them move forward.

We are Better Together!

“We're proud supporters of the YWCA Family Center. I'll never forget the first year that we served there because it was such an eye-opening experience for us, to see the magnitude of the need right in our backyard. With each year, we've increased our volunteer hours at the Family Center, not only to help meet the increased demand, but because of how meaningful the experience has been for our entire organization.” 

—Michelle Yeager-Thornton, Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, The Champion Companies

“As I enter my 13th year working with YWCA Columbus, I am continuously impressed by the community’s generosity and support of our meal program for the YWCA Family Center. We rely 100% on the community to provide dinner every day of the year. The meals we serve provide structure and stability, while giving the opportunity for families to have much-needed quality time. In 2020, we served 81,019 meals, and this need is only increasing.” 

—Jessica Wichtman-Will, Director of Donor Engagement