In the late 70’s and early 1980’s, a small group of people from St. Peter’s Episcopal Church here in Lebanon saw a need for a place to distribute food and clothing to the needy in the community. It actually began as a call line for suicide prevention, but they got more calls from people in need of food and clothing, and so began Project Help. 

Priest Mary Campbell was a forward thinker saw what the community needed. The work began in the church fellowship hall, and over time it grew and became larger than the fellowship hall could support and moved to Memory Hall, the former Jr. High School. It was mostly vacant at the time and so Project Help was on the top floor. The Episcopal Diases of Indianapolis helped fund the work. Later, Project Help was offered the basement in the Christian Church in Lebanon and became more easily accessible in the community. Many garage sales were held during this time to benefit the work of Project Help and for the community. 

By the mid-1990’s Project Help became a more independent organization, and changed it’s name to “The Caring Center.” In 1999, The Caring Center moved to larger quarters at 620 Indianapolis Avenue in Lebanon with 2500 square feet and a kitchen, and the operations expanded greatly. In 2006 The Caring Center moved to its present location at 1230 Ransdell Court in Lebanon with over 5000 square feet, a kitchen and meeting rooms.

The Caring Center has evolved from a group of volunteers who provided a crisis line to help troubled individuals into a multi-program, not-for-profit organization serving hundreds of needy families and thousands of individuals annually through the dedication of scores of volunteers.

Over the years, we have had multiple programs under The Caring Center until they could support themself, including: Guardian at Lidem (the predecessor to CASA), but they stayed underneath our umbrella until they got full funding. Battered Women (we partnered with Boone County mental health), and Stranger Danger/Good Touch Bad Touch. In spite of all these wonderful programs that have benefited the community, we still find food insecurity to be highly prevalent and providing help in this area is one of our foundational purposes.

The Caring Center’s mission is to stabilize families in crisis and move those caught in poverty towards self sufficiency. We help families and individual living in generational and situational poverty and those who are food insecure. 

Today, The Caring Center is the umbrella organization for programs helping the needy of Boone County.  Current services that are available at the Caring Center are food, clothing, personal care items, household items, furniture, etc. We also offer Transitional Housing, Community Gardens, Cooking Club, Table Talk, Life Skills classes, including Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’-By-World and we serve as a Salvation Army Extension Unit.

As the programs offered by The Caring Center have evolved, the organization has also grown and developed. The Caring Center is now overseen by a Board of Directors and an Executive Director charged with supervising these programs and coordinating the caring work of our many volunteers.

Watch this 9 minute video to learn more about us.