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By Elisabeth Westermann
Special to The Almanac
Samaritan House, a San Mateo-based nonprofit that serves residents in need, has opened a new satellite location at 871 Hamilton Ave. in Menlo Park’s Belle Haven neighborhood. The organization’s services include emergency rent assistance, free hot meals and groceries, free clothing for children, financial education and free dental and health care clinics for low-income individuals and families.
The Menlo Park site, which opened June 25 and serves residents every Tuesday from 1 to 5 p.m., also provides case management, meaning that case workers will evaluate people’s financial, housing, health, educational and job needs and develop an individualized plan for overcoming those hardships. If there is a need Samaritan House cannot address with its own services, it will connect a client with one of its partner organizations, according to the organization.
Samaritan House expanded into Belle Haven at the county’s request “to ensure there were enough adequate services for the need there,” said Bart Charlow, the chief executive officer of Samaritan House. The organization also wanted to ensure that Menlo Park residents could secure services in their own community rather than having to seek assistance in other cities, he said.
Samaritan House also recently signed a contract with the city of Menlo Park to help at-risk residents pay for housing, and it is partnering with other agencies in Menlo Park to provide free hot meals. “The way we like to work is to collaborate with existing services and organizations in the community to multiply the impact,” Charlow said.
Samaritan House also recently expanded into East Palo Alto with a new location at 1852 Bay Road. That site opened as a temporary case management location in July 2018, but became permanent at the request of the city.
Any low-income or at-risk individual or family can schedule a case management appointment with Samaritan House by calling their client services number at 650-347-3648.
For more information on Samaritan House, go to samaritanhousesanmateo.org.
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