If you are experiencing a housing emergency please call this number first: 757 – 587 – 4202

Housing, Shelter, Day Support: 757-723-2242
HELP Dental Clinic:  757-586-5107
info@helphampton.org

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If you are experiencing a housing emergency please call this number first: 757-587-4202
Get Help
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The Long Game

The Long Game

May 7, 2025

There are days that remind us all why we are investing in this line of work everyday. 

9 years ago, when I started at HELP, my wife and I were handing out water on a hot July day to homeless folks we saw on the street corners. The first one we interacted with was an older guy who was friendly and open and we surprisingly became quick acquaintances, keeping in touch when we saw each other, him popping in to our office on Lasalle to use the food pantry or pick up mail or get help with benefits or speak to our staff for questions about his or his wife’s illnesses. He had worked the net and scallop boats for years–the sheer strength and size of his hands combined with the stiffness from arthritis were his résumé. 

For the past few years, they had been between hotel rooms and the woods, depending on how much money they could drum up from the corners or from friends that could support them a little each month. Sometimes, we’d be able to help them out when they were short, especially in the heat or the cold, to make sure they had somewhere to stay.
They decided that using the hotels just got to be too expensive and that other priorities needed to take precedence over spending so much time on the corners begging money so they moved into a patch of woods we’ve probably all seen and driven by. The most pressing priority was not a cancer diagnosis. Can you imagine suffering through all that comes with a cancer diagnosis while living in a tent through multiple seasons? Me neither. 

That diagnosis made our work all the more urgent and our staff went to work leaving no stone unturned–every program, every list, every waiting list, every benefit we could find was employed to try and find a housing solution. 

And yesterday–almost 9 years since our first interaction–they received a housing voucher specifically designed for people in their situation (non-elderly, disabled).
She has the opportunity to live out her remaining days in a place with a roof, walls, a shower, a bathroom, a real bed. He has the opportunity to care for his wife in an environment that allows her to be comfortable and for him not to have to worry about having enough money to put gas in the generator to ensure she’s comfortable. 

9 years. 

Nine years. 

That’s the kind of investments being made here at HELP. 

Victories are hard fought, slow fought, and we have to keep the long game front of mind because the issues we’re tackling are big, complicated, multifaceted, and surprisingly unique to each individual we encounter. 

And victories aren’t guaranteed.

But, when those victories come, they can be epic in scale and impact. 

What Could You Do with $10,000

What Could You Do with $10,000

Aug 25, 2021

So you’re looking for affordable healthcare that covers at least primary care and maybe even some dental care. You go to the Marketplace and find that you can qualify for a plan that might cost you around $50 a month, but there’s a $10,000 deductible attached to it. “Well,” you think, “$50 a month is doable and I don’t see a doctor that often–just when absolutely necessary.” But what happens when something does come up–and it will come up? Your out-of-pocket cost before your insurance picks up the tab is your monthly premium (in this case, $50 x 12 months = $600) and your full deductible ($10,000 in this example) for a grand total of $10,600 this year. That means you’re actually paying over $880 a month for coverage all in. WOW!

The HELP Clinics have your solution–the same quality care you’ve come to expect from any provider at a maximum out-of-pocket cost of $25 per visit. Even if you saw our dentist 4 times in a year ($25 a visit x 4 = $100) and came in for 4 primary care visits ($10 a visit x 4 = $40), that’s less than $150 per year.

So the question remains: Would you rather pay an average of $15 a month for healthcare or $880 a month? The choice is yours! What can $10,000 in savings help you do?

The Average Social Security Check is $1,543

The Average Social Security Check is $1,543

Aug 9, 2021

The 2021 average for a Social Security benefit in the US is $1,543 a month, according to AARP. And while that can make things tight each month, the good news is that the added cost of dental care doesn’t need to make it even tighter. If your benefit is higher, even twice as high, you can receive low-to-no-cost dental care at the HELP Clinic in Hampton. You and your spouse both get a check? That helps the bottom line for sure, but it can still be tight. If your combined monthly income is less than $4,350 you can also benefit from low-to-no-cost dental care at the HELP Clinic.

Medicare already comes with its own cost. Why pay more for a supplemental dental plan when you can get the dental care you need right here in Hampton for less than the cost of the supplement?

The HELP Dental Clinic is here to provide the preventive care, exams, x-rays, fillings, extractions, and simple oral surgeries you need to stay healthy. Do the math and see if you qualify for care with us and start getting the care you need at prices you can afford! Dental visits are only $25 or less!

One Mite at a Time

One Mite at a Time

May 26, 2021

In the 21st chapter of the Gospel of Luke, the writers document a certain widow:

“And Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So He said, ‘Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.’”

Have you ever encountered this situation in real life? At HELP, we’ve encountered it more often than you’d probably think. Just the other day, we had a woman come into the office who was desperately worried about being able to pay her mortgage. She’s 80 years old and has worked for decades and now depends on a combination of her Social Security and some part-time work. She was fired from her job for something incredibly trivial and now found herself looking at an inevitable budget shortfall. So she came to HELP for some guidance.

While we couldn’t fix everything, we were able to come up with some ways for her to save a few bucks–like applying for Medicaid to help cover the cost of her Medicare premium. And for that, she returned with her two mites–in the form of food. We knew very intimately what her budget was–how little she had and how tight her budget really is–and, yet, her response to what felt like just a little bit of work on our part was to respond with gifts of thanks to our staff. I like to consider myself generous, but this woman continues to challenge my understanding of what generosity really means. I’ve been fooled into believing that the opposite of poverty is luxury when in reality, the opposite of poverty is enough.

What would it look like if those of us of more significant means put our ‘two mites’ in? What would it take to end poverty in America? In Virginia? In Hampton? I know I fall into the routine of looking toward the government to do something about poverty with tax dollars. But Christ has constantly called us to do something about it. What if we all gathered together and said, “This is not acceptable and we have the power to do something about it”?

Just like the rich man who walked away from Christ with his head hanging low, it’s difficult to think about parting with my worldly possessions and putting in ‘all the livelihood that I have’ into the treasury of God. But that’s what I’m called to do. That’s what we who profess Christ as Lord are called to do. I’m not telling you to go out today and sell all of your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor…but I feel like I’ve heard that somewhere before.
I do want to challenge myself, my family, and my community to look at all of the things we’re invested in–where our livelihood is invested–and see if it aligns with what our Lord and Savior requires of us. And where it doesn’t match up, to take at least one step closer–even just one mite at a time.