Northern Nevada Dream Center looking for new space

There really can be too much of a good thing. For one Carson City area non-profit, the growth of its programs and services has prompted it to search for a larger space.

The Northern Nevada Dream Center, a faith-based charitable organization serving the area's most needy residents, is reaching out to the community for help in finding space that can accommodate this growth with room to spare, NNDC Executive Director Susan Sorenson said.

"We have outgrown our current location and are looking for a location closer to the people we serve," Sorenson said. "We are excited that this change brings the opportunity for a larger location."

This means finding space more in the heart of Carson City, she said, rather than the outskirts, where NNDC's headquarters are currently located off Snyder Avenue.

Sorenson said NNDC, which operates entirely on donations from the community, ideally seeks between 5,000 and 6,000 square feet of multi-use space that can accommodate the organization's needs.

Although warehouse is acceptable, Sorenson said, a prospective facility should also be conducive to housing classrooms, a food pantry and kitchen.

"Warehouse space works, however, we do need space for our DC Hire classroom, meetings and office," she said. "We are losing our kitchen, which we use to cook meals for our motel outreach. Access to a kitchen would be amazing."

Sorenson said suitable space should be adequate to house its many outreach programs and services, including:

— Mirror Mirror, a mentoring program for teenaged girls that uses a nationally known curriculum targeting disadvantaged youth living in local motels.

— Food Truck Ministry, from which trucks deliver groceries, meats and fresh produce to neighborhoods in need.

— Celebrate Recovery, a faith-based, step recovery program with weekly gatherings.

— DC Hire, the only free workforce training program in Northern Nevada featuring High School Equivalency, certified Microsoft Office training, resume building and basic computer skills classes.

— Food Pantry, with on-site delivery, open two days per week for two hours each day. The pantry focuses on delivery of groceries, meats and fresh produce to individuals who are home-bound or who have no transportation.

— The Closet, the only free clothing closet in Carson City, distributing about 1,000 pieces of free, clean, like-new clothing in Northern Nevada. Rolling racks of clothes go out with all outreaches and folks can shop for clothing when our food pantry is open.

— Rescue Campaign, through which NNDC provides everyday essential items to the community, including toilet paper, diapers, toiletries and other personal necessities. More than 4,000 rescue bags filled with travel-sized toiletries have been distributed since 2008.

— Saturday Supper, served fresh and hot to residents of local motels for almost four years. Volunteers deliver a hot meal, groceries, free clothing and a program for children and families living in motels.

The program, also known as "Dream Kids," is NNDC's most impactful outreach, reaching the most vulnerable populations in Carson City. Many of these are families and individuals living one week's rent from being homeless, Sorenson said.

"We first meet the basic need of hunger, but our goal is to build relationships in order to provide other services and a way up and out of the cycle of motel life," she said. "To date, the Dream Center has helped 17 families move from the motels into their own homes, providing furniture and other household items."

Northern Nevada Dream Center has grown by leaps and bounds in just over three years, Sorenson said, from its start in June 2014 as a tiny informal group of just three volunteers to a federally registered non-profit organization with a solid base of 60-70 volunteers.

"We were working moms with families, raising kids in Carson City," she said. "God grew our love for our city into a contagious passion for helping others that has transformed into a thriving organization run solely by volunteers with the same heart for others."

A few modest projects helping a handful of needy people in the area grew rather quickly over time to several large outreach programs that currently help anywhere from 1,500 to 1,800 people each month, Sorenson said.

"We started out with small projects like taking gifts to the families at Advocates to End to Domestic violence, or packing rescue bags filled with toiletries for the homeless," she said. "We came along side other organizations like Ron Wood, the Bridge Church and Advocates joining in their efforts to reach the less fortunate in our city."

Sorenson said NNDC, currently located at Redemption Church (formerly Capital Christian Center) on Snyder Avenue, should be more in the heart of Carson City and closer to most of the people benefiting from its outreach.

She said a larger space that has room for all of its services and then some will give NNDC the room required to support the level of need it's currently serving in Carson City, while also supporting future growth.

"Our goal is to find unmet needs and fill them and not duplicate services," Sorenson said. "We are unique in that most of our services are mobile. We reach those without transportation, those who are homebound or have other restrictions that keep them from getting help."

To learn more about how you can help, call NNDC at 775-443-4090 or visit its web site for more information.

NNDC can also be found here on Facebook.