115 East Queen St Chambersburg PA 

We are open Tuesday & Friday from 4 PM Till 7 PM  

on Saturday we host a bible study at 6 PM  

 Matthew 25: 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Employment & Self Support Pilot Program For Hearken House Ministries 

Introduction 

Hearken House Ministries is a nonprofit half way house and reintegration program for men exiting the prison system. One of our goals at the Hearken House is to equip former inmates with the discipline and responsibility that they will need to contribute to society. We believe that an integral part of keeping them out of prison is to give them the opportunity to work and support themselves. 

At the Hearken House we have repeatedly felt the need to have a work program that would allow us to offer temporary “stepping stone” jobs to those exiting the prison system. Having our own work program would allow us to accomplish three objectives: 

1. Offer immediate employment to those entering the Hearken House. Giving them something profitable to do with their time and allowing them to start building a positive work history for job hunting later. It will also contribute to their sense of responsibility and self-worth.  2. Give us the opportunity to work along side the Hearken House residents, providing them with mentoring and discipline that will help them be good employees elsewhere.  3. Produce an income that will enable the Hearken House to be self-supporting, rather than relying on repeated donations for operation.  

We have been considering several different avenues for a business. At this point, we have decided to pursue an eCommerce (eBay & Amazon, etc) based business. This appears to be a good fit for our situation providing a scalable work load that can easily flex to accommodate the number of people we need to employ at any given time. The work can be learned quickly with minimal training and should provide opportunities for a diverse set of skills. This business model also builds on several years of eCommerce experience and systems that one of our board members already has. 

We have looked at several other successful “fund raising” businesses. There are substantial opportunities repurposing and reselling donated used items. Specifically, we have researched opportunities in the used book and electronic market. Many nonprofits are funded by donations of these items, and a significant percentage of these items are still ending up in landfills. 

Ephesians 4:28

Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.