Empowerment Services
CK’s two Empowerment Coaches work with hundreds of guests before and during our daily Meal Program, helping them connect to critical services, resources, and information.
In 2025, our coaches worked with 247 guests, up from 172 in 2024, helping them achieve stability goals, including obtaining SNAP, SSI/SSDI, TANF/General Assistance benefits and health insurance; receiving essential documents needed for housing, healthcare, benefits and employment, like ID, birth certificate, and Social Security card; getting into shelter/housing, getting help with utility and rent payments to prevent shutoff and eviction, and enrolling in substance use programs.
Empowerment coaches also connected and coordinated care with our onsite service partners. Outcomes resulting from that care included:
Guest Spotlight
William is a 66-year-old veteran originally from Lakewood, NJ. After his time serving with the army, he was incarcerated for a period of time. From there, he moved around, spending time working as a machine operator in Lakewood and then in Delaware, before settling in Camden with one of his sons.
For more than 3 years, William has been housing and food insecure, living in a tent or sometimes an overnight shelter. When he decided to take initiative and get his life back on track, William was overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork and logistics necessary, especially on top of the effort he devoted to just surviving and staying safe every day.
He had just about given up when, in a last-ditch effort, he decided to reach out to one of CK’s Empowerment Coaches, Hayde, during our meal service. “Hayde helped me much faster and got more results than when I was trying to work with the government directly.”
In under six months, William secured SNAP benefits, a new ID, a birth certificate, and social security support. Right now, Hayde and William are looking at some promising options for housing and are hoping to secure this in the coming months. In addition to the help William is getting from Hayde, he gets meals and personal care items from CK and gets his mail delivered here.
William has not taken advantage of social services outside of CK. In his older age, he just wants to be in places where he feels safe – his tent and Cathedral Kitchen. Despite his current hardships, William has an incredibly positive outlook on life and uses humor to get through the tougher days.
“This place keeps me in a good mood. It’s too easy to think about what’s happened in the past and get stuck in that dark place that doesn’t serve you. But tomorrow is an untouched day–why would I bring my troubles from yesterday or today into tomorrow?”
We’re so glad CK has become a safe place for William.
