North County
Interfaith Council Inc., doing business as Interfaith Community
Services, is a non-profit organization which partners with more than 350
diverse faith centers in North San Diego County. Interfaith was formed
in 1979 by a small group of North County Faith Communities to address
the growing problems of poverty and homelessness. Because the poor have
multiple needs and because accessibility to community services was a
problem, Interfaith began addressing those needs within its own service
delivery system and through collaborating with other agencies.
Interfaith s services began at the most basic level - with an emergency
food program. A pantry was established using donated food distributed by
volunteers. But hunger does not exist in isolation. It is always linked
to other human conditions: homelessness,under- or non-employment,
inadequate parenting skills, physical, emotional and mental illness,
illiteracy, lack of education and social skills, unawareness of
available resources, and most of all, hopelessness, loss of human
dignity and spiritual crisis. One of the key strengths of Interfaith is
that it has developed an effective community model approach that propels
individuals in need to their highest level of self-sufficiency and
optimum health. Interfaith s Faith Center members contribute donations
of money, materials, in-kind services, and volunteers, thereby offering
an impressive array of services. Interfaith Coommunity Services has
grown from a small food pantry staffed by volunteers to a seamless
continuum of care, which is operated by 90+ paid employees, a Board of
20+ community activists, more than 3,000 volunteers in direct service,
and a membership of more than 350 Faith Comunities. Interfaith has
become a national model for faith community involvement in addressing
problems of the poor and the needy. All of Interfaith s programs are
designed to help people help themselves, to offer a hand up, not a
handout. A well-designed continuum of care provides an effective array
of services that move people from poverty and despair to self-reliance
and hope.

33.1248930,-117.091588