Annual Report & Financials

Dear HomeFront Supporter,

Earlier this year, I was standing in the parking lot at the HomeFront Lawrenceville Campus, our main office and home to our food pantry, warehouse, housing crisis intervention team, children’s programs, and more. As the numbers illustrate, the demand and need for our services feels ever growing – just as one family completes the path from crisis to stability, another family is walking through our front door, small children in tow.

As you might know, we renovated and expanded our Lawrenceville Campus space recently to enhance and expand our family support services and meet this growing need. That day in the parking lot, I sat back and watched dozens of families unloading from the local bus line, doubled and tripled up in shared car rides to our pantry, or arriving from long walks to visit our housing crisis team.  

Next to our busy entrance was a blank wall, a remnant of the renovation, slightly overlooked in our design planning. The blank wall felt empty and cold, a stark contrast to the spirit of the families coming in to seek our help and walking out after being touched by our services. Even in their time of need and incredible challenge, joy was walking in and out of that door: young children learning to talk and crawl with a new book in their hands, moms grateful to be able to keep a few dollars in their pocket because they received food and diapers to last the rest of the month, and dads breathing a sigh of relief that they’d gotten help avoiding an eviction that would disrupt their family. 

Contrasted with the spirit of the families, the blank, flat wall was out of place. It had to go.

A few weeks later, after a few phone calls of dreaming with Trenton artists Leon Rainbow and Busta, the blank wall became a canvas. On the front of this report, you can see the gorgeous mural that now occupies the space, a testament to the families fighting every day to support themselves and build a better life for their children. 

When a family comes to HomeFront for the first time, sometimes they tell us they feel like the blank wall: bleak, hopeless, and flat. We dream of a world of full color for every family: vibrant, joyful, thriving, and hopeful.  The support you provide to HomeFront makes this possible. As you will see in these pages, your support powers over 30 different programs that support families on the path from crisis to long-term stability. We rely on the community – your donations, your volunteer support, your inspiration, your advocacy – and we are honored to be a conduit for this community’s caring.

From the HomeFront team and all the families we have the privilege of serving, thank you for your caring. Your caring is the magic that can bring a blank wall to life.

Sarah Steward
HomeFront CEO