“With unpredictable climate changes, including funding constraints, fundraising is more critical than ever,” said Tammi Ector, executive director of Serve City, 622 East Ave. in Hamilton. “We’re seeing more neighbors than before in need of emergency shelter, housing and food insecurity.”
Reports by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio show the need to address homelessness and affordable housing. During the agency’s 2025 point-in-time count, nearly 500 people in Butler County didn’t have a steady place to live, the most in the state.
Serve City is just one of several organizations that assist the unhoused in Butler County. Ector said her facility has seen across-the-board increases in transition-aged youth, individuals of the LGBTQ+ community, seniors, and families toppling over from poverty into the need of an emergency shelter.
In addition to an emergency shelter, which serves 37 men and 13 women on a nightly basis and is “always full,” Serve City has housing options designed to be temporary, from a 12-unit group living apartment building and 25 Shekinah Place permanent supportive housing. Collectively, Serve City is more than half full with its permanent supportive housing and transitional housing services.
“There is not enough affordable housing in our community,” she said. “So, when we have individuals in the shelter who actually are able to move from emergency shelter into housing, their options are limited, which clogs up the continuum of care. It just causes fewer people to enter the shelter and access the supply for it that they need.”
The Serve City ministry had regular operating hours for a food pantry, but federal funds expired, and for a short period of time, it shut down. The agency reopened it as a pop-up pantry, primarily because of a Queen of Peace fundraising effort a couple of years ago. It operates 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Tuesday (though it was open more frequently during the summer), serving about 30 people during that span. The organization would like to do more, Ector said.
“Although there are other pantries in our community, for those in the Jefferson neighborhood, in particular, who don’t have transportation access or have young children, accessing pantries even a little bit further out creates a barrier for them,” she said.
Many of the pantry clients walk to it every Tuesday, Ector said.
“We believe our community cares, and they have demonstrated that in the past,” she said. “They want to be part of the transformational change for those we serve.”
The first gala, held in October 2023, raised more than $39,000 to support Butler County’s low-income and unhoused neighbors.
MORE DETAILS
What: Serving Our Neighbors Gala
When: 5-8 p.m. Oct. 18
Where: Community Christian Church in Fairfield Twp.
Cost: Tickets are $50 per person and can be purchased online at tinyurl.com/2025ServeCityGala. Event and table sponsorships are available.
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