OCP runs three major interconnected programs:
Our Community Farms, Our Community Works, and Our Community Place
Our Community Farms – A Christian Work Recovery Community on 15-acres in North Rockingham County. A staff of three lives, works, and eats with seven individuals who are in long-term recovery from alcohol and drug addiction. Residents are individuals who have been involved with the OCP and OCW programs. Residents live a fully scheduled life in community including daily worship, full-time work (on and off the farm), recovery meetings, chores, counseling, etc. Much funding currently comes through work performed with sister program OCW (see below). Our current project operating budget of $90,000 per year provides small salaries for staff, $50 per month stipends for residents, and room and board for all.
- A gift of $20,000 would give this relatively new program breathing room and confidence to maintain a recovery and spirituality focus along with its self-sufficient work focus, and help to develop small savings plans for individuals that would accumulate while they were in the program. Ideally, individuals will live in the community for twelve to eighteen months. Savings plans would help individuals who successfully complete the program to get a good start toward self-sufficiency when they leave.
- A gift of $15,000 – $20,000 would provide a reliable heavy-duty diesel truck for farm work and OCW work (see below). (Moving toward diesel vehicles will help us move toward fuels made from used vegetable oil, of which we have large-quantity access, thereby decreasing our fuel expenses.)
- A gift of $8,000 will provide funds necessary to buy a used diesel 20-seat school bus to provide transportation to and from town for the entire household.
- A gift of $1,500 would provide funds necessary to buy a portable electric cow milker which would increase our milking productivity rate by 400%. We have a clientele already buying milk to help support our farm with others waiting to do so.
Our Community Works (OCW) – A work program that has made Our Community Farms (see above) possible, that is designed to help individuals struggling with homelessness, addiction, and other difficult life circumstances find work, housing, and recovery. Individuals agree to have 75% of their pay withheld to be paid by OCP directly toward rent, utilities, child support, and/or fines. Currently, this program, which includes landscaping, painting, cleaning, moving and odd jobs is almost self-sustaining. Our current expense per billable hour is approximately $15. In order for OCW to give folks the training and attention they need, pay our managers a living wage, and remain competitive with our pricing, the program will need to be subsidized somehow.
- A contribution of $26,000 would, over the course of a year, provide the funds necessary to pay our three managers a “living wage.”
- A contribution of $18,000 would, over the course of one year, decrease the expense per billable hour to approximately $13, thereby allowing OCW to spend more time with on-site job training while remaining competitive in the open market.
- A gift of $10,000 would provide funds necessary to dramatically improve our tool inventory.
Our Community Place – OCP’s flagship program that emerged from the “Free Food For All Soup Kitchen” that was held at The Little Grill Restaurant every Monday for seventeen years and gave birth to OCW and OCF. The community center, open to anyone in the world, is particularly dedicated to including in its activities those struggling with poverty, addiction, and difficult life circumstances. The center currently serves three meals per day and provides computer access, bathrooms, telephone access, daily worship, daily recovery meetings, classes, activities, counseling, and a safe place for many of the city’s homeless and addicted residents. Due to the rapid growth of the overall organization’s three programs over the last two years, founder and director, Ron Copeland, has found himself trying to maintain directorship at the center while effectively being in the position of Executive Director over all three programs, leaving a void in leadership at the community center.
- A one-time gift of $30,000 would provide the start-up funds needed to hire a full-time director for the community center, thereby freeing Ron Copeland to function fully in the capacity of Executive Director. The attention of a full-time director at the center will increase the productivity of the staff and unleash the massive potential of an eager volunteer base to positively impact the lives of those who access the center that are in desperate need of healing and hope. With the freedom to function as the executive, Ron will undoubtedly use his gifts to increase the overall health of the larger organization, and bring in the additional funds necessary to sustain the position in the future.
- A gift of $12,000 would provide three meals per day for one year for anyone in the world. (Our food donation base is so large that our food costs are quite low, considering 25 to 50 people eat together at each meal – three times per day).
- A gift of $10,000 would provide funds necessary to lower our energy costs over the long haul by installing wood stove, a solar hot water heater, and converting our heating fuel to a fuel made from waste vegetable oil.
- A gift of $3,500 would provide funds necessary to create an art space in the back portion of our building by installing a sink, used cabinets and counters, and ceramic tile on the floor.
- A gift of $3,000 would reimburse the costs of building the 30 outdoor lockers for the homeless that currently exist on our property.