Hispanic Religious Partnership for Community Health, Inc.: Helping Bexar County residents meet their basic needs since 1997
Since inception, MHM has provided nearly $500 million in healthcare services through our clinics and programs, as well as through our partnerships. MHM is proud to partner with organizations that share our mission and organizational objective of delivering healthcare and social services to the least served in the South Texas region. By strengthening other organizations’ capacity to provide services, we achieve our overarching goal of increasing access to care.
An MHM funded partner since 1997, the Hispanic Religious Partnership for Community Health, Inc. (HRPCH) works to make a difference in Bexar County by engaging in the lives of the disadvantaged, underserved, and those requesting assistance to meet their basic needs.
Founded in 1997 by ten local Hispanic United Methodist Churches in San Antonio, Texas, the HRPCH has a deep-rooted connection with addressing the health and human service needs of families in the community. The founding churches, located in some of the city’s most underserved communities, witnessed firsthand the despair that is brought about from poverty. Lacking the resources to be able to provide the much-needed help as individual congregations, these churches came together to form a partnership to more adequately address this need.
Today, HRPCH operates four distinct programs:
- Diaper Bank. Started in 2011, the Diaper Bank assists low-income families by providing access to a reserve of diapers, baby wipes, baby food and formula. This Bank also serves as a distribution center for products that supplement MHM’s Wesley Nurse Health Ministries™ My Healthy Child health education program and the HRPCH Baby Boutiques located St. John’s UMC and Bethel UMC.
- Help Program. The Help Program provides emergency food and household utilities assistance, vision enrollment, federal benefits referrals, and job placement assistance along with other vital services. This program is designed to function as safety net for families in need.
- Hunger Relief. The Hunger Relief program organizes various food pantries and special outreach events year round. Its goal is to provide nourishment to hungry families throughout Bexar County.
- Senior Wellness. The Senior Wellness program is focused on providing healthy alternatives to ensure low-income seniors stay healthy both mentally and physical by participating in an assortment of exercise and nutrition opportunities.
At its core, HRPCH believes individuals and families must have their basic needs satisfied before they can work towards setting and achieving long-term economic and educational goals. HRPCH programs are designed to meet these needs.
In 2011, HRPCH served 7,422 families. This year to date, 9,562 families have been served through HRPCH programs.
To date, MHM has provided over $2.1 million in funding to support HRPCH.
To learn more about the Hispanic Religious Partnership for Community Health, visit http://www.hrpch.org. Join HRPCH on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HRPCH.
