Mercy House, Inc.

Mercy House is about housing and self-sufficiency.  We shelter families with dependent children and our first priority is to meet those families’ immediate needs: food security, health, transportation, child care, and clothing.   Case Managers assist adults in job readiness, job search, and eventually obtaining and maintaining employment.  We offer classes in parenting, budgeting, life skills and nutrition.  Case Managers connect families to community and mainstream resources. 

Mercy House has an aftercare program, SAFE-at-Home, that continues to work with families in their homes after they leave the shelter and move into permanent housing. United Way funds this program that provides education, transportation, childcare, utilities, work shoes and uniforms; basically everything a family needs as they start over.  This assistance is time limited and directly connected to needs. The Mercy House Thrift Store provides the house furnishing, cooking utensils and other clothing. 

Mercy House has both a homeless prevention and a re-housing program for households who with a few months of assistance can get back on their feet without entering the shelter.  These programs are supported by Virginia Housing Solutions Program through state and federal funding.   

Mercy House is a grassroots community organization founded in 1988 in an effort to keep families unified as they go through the trauma of homelessness.  We are a family shelter with 11 efficiency apartments and some additional transitional housing.  We operate three Harrisonburg area thrift stores to help fund our mission:  to feed, clothe and house homeless families with dependent children in a safe environment in Harrisonburg, Virginia while the adults work on improving the barriers that have led to their circumstances.