BORN opens as clearinghouse for meeting needs

BUCYRUS -- Perhaps the most impressive thing about BORN, the Bucyrus Outreach & Restoration Network, which officially got off the ground Wednesday, is the manner in which it came into being — from scratch.

The organization, which has a rear entrance in the Crawford County Partnership building at 117 E. Mansfield St., is designed as a destination for local residents in need, whether that need is financial assistance, education-related or spiritual mentoring.

The location was donated to BORN by the county commissioners and Crawford: 20/20 Vision. It's being staffed by 16 volunteers and is funded by a consortium of 10 area churches.

"We didn't really have a model agency," Eliza Cole, BORN's director of operations, said at a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday. "And now we have other counties asking us how we did it."

"We're ahead of everyone else in Crawford County. Hopefully, this will be a model," Deb Pinion, director of the Bucyrus Area Chamber of Commerce, said. "This will be one place for people to come, a clearinghouse."

In addition to help with utility bills, rent or house payments and temporary housing, BORN will offer help with GED classes, financial literacy, marriage and parenting counseling, and workforce readiness.

While spiritual guidance will be a big part of BORN's mission, if it doesn't have an answer for someone, Cole said, it will find someone local who does.

"The concept for BORN arose about two years ago," she said. "Our ministerial fellowship was concerned that it was seeing the same repeat people, and may have been hurting more than helping. The situations were still there."

Cole said BORN will place an emphasis on follow-through, keeping track of its clients after their visits.

"We are so grateful that BORN is able to rise up in this city," Pastor Dan Rebon of Father's Heart Healing Center said during a prayer at the ribbon-cutting, "not as a Band-Aid, but to get to what's happening here. We need to break the mindset of poverty and give people hope."

In addition to the Healing Center, BORN takes referrals from the following area churches — Bucyrus United Methodist, First Alliance, First Baptist, First Presbyterian, Good Hope Lutheran, Mt. Zion United Methodist, Woodlawn United Methodist, St. John United Church of Christ and First Church of Nazarene.

BORN's office hours are Monday and Friday from 9 a.m. to noon and Wednesday from 1 to 5 p.m. It can be reached at 419-557-4550 or bucyrusborn@gmail.com. Its website is www.bucyrusborn.com.

thill3@nncogannett.com

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Twitter: @ToddHillMNJ