History
Breakfast Program
The original program of Foundation For the Homeless, Inc., the Breakfast Program, found its roots in 1986 when June Davis's Bible study group, comprised of about 100 women from Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church and other churches, began bringing donuts to 2nd Street for the day laborers standing in line. The program was originally termed the 2nd Street Ministry.
The group had decided to serve the day laborers a Thanksgiving Day meal. Some of the laborers said that they didn't celebrate Thanksgiving, and that they needed meals every day. Also, they needed a place to shower, etc. (The Salvation Army did not have many showers at the time.) Listening to the input from the laborers, the group began serving lunch at Westlake Hills Presbyterian Church.
The day laborers said that breakfast would be preferred based on the time that they were available, so the group started serving breakfast every Tuesday morning at Westlake Hills - beginning the Breakfast Program. It was around this time that the group became aware that many of the people they were serving were homeless.
Westlake Hills Presbyterian was very supportive of the program, providing office space and the original annual budget of $10,000. Around 1991, Faith Lutheran began hosting the Breakfast Program every Thursday morning. Other churches each took one Thursday a month to provide volunteers to purchase and prepare food and to provide hospitality, etc.
On May 23, 2000, after 14 successful years at Westlake Hills Presbyterian, the Tuesday Breakfast Program moved to First United Methodist Church. The move came about mostly because the downtown location was much more accessible for the clientele - the Capital Metro bus system provides service to the area, so it was no longer necessary to have a private bus and bus driver.
The Tuesday Breakfast Program at First UMC provides the same services as the services at Westlake Hills Presbyterian, which are: hair cuts, bus passes, limited clothes closet, and showers. The Thursday Breakfast Program provides fewer services: breakfast, bus tickets, and toiletries.