About WHEAT: Our history

Board members | Volunteers & staff

The early days

In the late 1970’s, several significant events were to deeply impact the town of Clinton and surrounding towns. The day after the historic visit of President Jimmy Carter, the Colonial Press closed its doors forever. Marine Plastics moved out of town, ITT had layoffs, public transportation from Clinton to Worcester had been terminated, and an influx of people into the area to fill jobs that no longer existed taxed the available low-income housing. High Street was looking very sparse.

In November of 1980, a group of concerned citizens formed an ad-hoc task force that met weekly to discuss various social issues of the five towns that were then covered by Clinton Hospital and the Clinton Item: Berlin, Bolton, Clinton, Lancaster and Sterling. The problems these towns faced were similar, even though they differed in population and socio-economic status.

Judy Perry, a nurse at Clinton Hospital, was charged with implementing health education for the area. But she found it difficult and frustrating to teach health to families who needed far more basic services. Many of these needs were long-standing, and in all five towns. The closing of the factories only made it much worse. Food stamps in Fitchburg and Leominster were out of reach for people who lacked transportation.

Town officials in each of the five towns were asked to support, through small financial commitments and participation, the development of a Community Action Council to address the needs of low-income residents. WHEAT was formally incorporated as a non-profit tax exempt organization on January 18, 1982. Its mission was the same as it is today: to promote the well being of poor and low-income people in Berlin, Bolton, Clinton, Lancaster and Sterling.

The first office on Church St. in Clinton served the community well, although there was no access for people with disabilities and people sometimes had to call up the stairs to get their food stamps. The office served at night as well by teaching programs such as English as a Second Language. WHEAT later moved to Mechanic Street before settling it our current location at 44 High St. in Clinton.

Today

WHEAT has continued for 21 years helping those who need help – with food, clothing, referrals, transportation, and assistance getting back on their feet. Through the tireless efforts of our staff, volunteers, Board of Directors, and the achievements of our clients, WHEAT Community Services is able to successfully combat the effects poverty has on our community.

Today WHEAT services nearly 2000 individuals per year by providing them with the resources they need to become self-sufficient. Hundreds of families and individuals access our assistance each month -- usually on a very short-term basis until they can get back on track.

Our focus is on helping people break out of their current situation, through programs like Families First, debt reduction, parenting education, training programs, and education and career counseling.

As we celebrate past successes and look into the future, WHEAT commits to working closely with the communities we serve to address the issues faced by people with lower incomes. Our goal is to foster self-sufficiency while providing necessary assistance along the way.

The future

As we look to the future, our Mission stays the same: to address the needs of low income individuals and families in Wachusett region. Yet, we have begun embarking on a major strategic shift over time from social service--or reacting to poverty and helping people deal with their situations--to social change, addressing the issues that cause poverty and helping people become self-sufficient.

We will maintain and continue to enhance the social service system that we have successfully built over the last 21 years--emergency referrals, low/no-cost goods, and crisis intervention. In the short-term, we must deal with issues of the budget crisis, affordable housing shortages and financial difficulties caused by unemployment.

In the future we will move more and more toward a focus on social change -- helping people break the cycle of poverty through systemic changes, education and empowerment. We will be advocates for the poor, voicing opinions on issues that impact their futures. We will help people use their own voice and power, through initiatives such as voter registration and education programs such as a Cyber-Café and continuation of the collaborative Mentoring Program that we sponsored a couple of years ago.

All the while, we will continue to build on the successes of the last several years in creating operational excellence and accountability systems to ensure that WHEAT is well run, well respected, and well-known for its service to the communities we serve.

So our three areas of focus for the future include:

• Social Services - Emergency services and referrals; low/no-cost goods and services
• Social Change - Training and education; public policy and advocacy
• Operational Excellence - Financial stability; public awareness

We can't do it alone. It is only through collaboration that any of us will succeed. We will continue to build alliances and relationships with other service providers and community leaders to address issues of poverty.