Board Members

Who We Are

New Horizons is an adult Homeless Shelter, a Soup Kitchen and a Food Pantry.

Homeless Shelter

For Shelter clients, many more services are available than simply a safe place to stay and meals. On site, clients have access to case management services, referral services, medical services, mental health services, substance abuse counseling, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and Narcotics Anonymous meetings.

Angie's for Women

Angie's was opened in recognition of the unique needs of homeless women - especially those with addictions - and who may be facing homelessness as they leave, or await openings in, treatment centers or IOP (Intensive Outpatient Programs).

Soup Kitchen

TheSoup Kitchen serves breakfast for Shelter guests daily. It also serves a complete dinner to seniors (over 50) at 3:00 p.m. (weekdays) and for individuals, children and their families beginning at 4:30 daily. The Soup Kitchen typically serves 200 meals a day.

Food Pantry

TheFood Pantry provides pre-packed food items to impoverished families and individuals in Manchester. The amount provided to each household is dependent upon family size. Along with non perishable food items, there are also fruits, vegetables, meats and bakery items available. Most of these items are donated by stores such as local Hannafords, Vista Foods and Harvest Market. Generous people and groups routinely conduct food drives on New Horizons behalf as well.

The pantry provides food to over 700 households each month. Between 700-800 children reside in these households.

History

Look How Far We Have Come

1973

New Horizons for New Hampshire, Inc., formed to assist low income persons to address social issues facing them.

1979

Inspired by a visit to a Connecticut soup kitchen, Dick Shannon of NH Catholic Charities and Sister Angie Whidden, a Religious Sister of Mercy, along with Msgr. Phil Kenney and the leadership of New Horizons investigate the feasibility of establishing a soup kitchen in Manchester.

December 1979

The Manchester Soup Kitchen begins serving sandwiches and soup from a borrowed Winnebago camper in the parking lot of the Carpenter Center.

July 1980

The Soup Kitchen moves to a home at 115 Nutfield Lane. Word spreads quickly and the number of diners grows.

February 1981

Seeing a need for shelter for many Soup Kitchen patrons, a 12-bed shelter opens at 73 Manchester Street above the St. Vincent de Paul Store.

1982

The number of shelter beds increases to 42 with aid from City Welfare.

August 1983

New Horizons addresses needs of low income families by starting a Food Pantry at St. Anne's Parish Center on Merrimack Street, providing groceries to qualified families on a monthly basis.

September 1984

Local businessman Gerald Allard donates the former Girls Club building at 199 Manchester Street to New Horizons which had outgrown its Nutfield Street location. Henrietta Charest is hired as the first Executive Director.

1984-1985

Full scale capital campaign to raise $500,000 to renovate the Girls Club building.

March 1985

Facility at Nutfield is completely destroyed by fire. Nightly meals are temporarily served from Grace Episcopal Church and then from First Congregational Church.

May 1985

The Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry move operations to 199 Manchester Street.

December 1985

Renovations are completed. A 72-bed shelter is opened upstairs at 199 Manchester Street.

June 1986

With donations from various churches, New Horizons begins to offer basic health care services to its patrons with assistance from the Mobile Community Health Team. The project is sponsored by the Visiting Nurses Association.

April 1989

The Day Program is born from the Religious of Jesus and Mary, a Catholic order of nuns, serving as the first case managers. The goal of this program was to help people obtain self-sufficiency by assisting with applications for benefits or employment and providing information and referral services as well as monitoring progress of shelter guests.

December 1991

Library is opened in basement of 199 Manchester Street for shelter guests.

1991

New Horizons for N.H., Inc., named "Non-Profit Business of the Year" by Business New Hampshire Magazine.

August 1993

The Day Program gets a boost with the hiring of three full-time case managers.

April 1998

Seeing a need for seniors to eat at a quieter time, the Senior Hour is created. 510 meals are served to seniors in the first month.

June 1998

With a grant from the Bean Foundation, New Horizons' building undergoes a major facelift. The $60,000 grant provides for sandblasting, sealing and a new paint job.

2000

With a grant from the Greater Manchester Area Charitable Trust, New Horizons purchased property at 434 Union Street from the Sisters of Mercy for a women's shelter. Board of Directors named the property Angie's after Sister Angie Whidden, one of the founders of New Horizons.

April 2002

Angie's opens its doors to 26 homeless women.

2003-2004

With funding from the Citizens Bank Foundation and the Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation, the Tier Program was implemented to motivate clients to work toward self-sufficiency. Case managers, the Greater Manchester Mental Health Center, and the Mobile Community Health Team work with clients to aggressively address issues that may be contributing to chronic homelessness through program referrals and goal setting.

2006

Program changes at Angie's to fill gap in services for homeless women leaving addiction treatment centers who are in need of continued support as well as housing.

2007

New Horizons launched a new website www.new horizonsfornh.org. New Horizons also engaged in a strategic planning initiative to strengthen programs and services through the next five years. New Horizons Alumni Program developed, giving former clients who have achieved self-sufficiency an opportunity to remain connected with services and providing them opportunities to mentor those who are still homeless.

2008

TFMoran Engineering completes the Facility Assessment Study of New Horizons Shelter and Food Pantry recommending capital improvements as part of the our ongoing strategic planning. We further develop and implement the Tier Program.

2009

Expanded medical clinic, office and exam room space to accommodate increased hours of mental health care, nursing, street, outreach and health education. Added showers for street homeless. Upgraded windows and improved bathroom facilities.

2010

New Horizons soup kitchen expanded dinner offering to children and their families. Evening case management begins to offer shelter cllients immediate one-on-one service.

2011

New Horizons completes HVAC system conversion from oil to natural gas and solar.