The WorthShop at 6:8 offers people in crisis the opportunity to earn critical aid for their lives in the form of camping, housing/rental assistance, transportation, food & fuel through exchange in the forms of case management & work.  All of this is offered in an effort for people to be able to stabilize their life and ultimately decrease their long-term dependence on external resources. 

The WorthShop is built on two main ideas: A hand up is more valuable than a handout & work leads to worth.  We offer a "hand up" in the form of an opportunity to earn.  A lot of people don't like asking for help, a lot of people don't like the idea of just being a receiver rather than offering something in return.  While the transactional relationship of giver/receiver is typical of modern charity, we're very interested in offering the opportunity to maintain a dignified relationship with every human being, recognizing their inherent worth & rewarding them for their efforts.  The opportunity to earn instead of just receive, is the difference between someone walking away with a sense of self-worth.  

The program offers emergency, temporary housing to people enrolled in the program.  People earn their stays at these places through the WorthShop program.  Through continuous progress toward their goals, exchange of time in the form of case management & labor (50/50 mix), people have the opportunity to have a guaranteed place to rest their head while prioritizing & sorting out life. For the housing/rental assistance it comes in 3 forms.  First, for those potentially getting evicted if they don’t pay, they can earn the money necessary through WorthShop time to get back to even with their landlords.  In terms of housing, our current set up is subsidizing extended stays in motel rooms in the winter months by utilizing earned WorthShop hours to assist in paying the bill.   Last, for the homeless excelling in the program, they can bank their hours and hopefully get in the habit of saving & can utilize their banked hours toward a security deposit &/or first month’s rent. 

 The exchange is about 50% case management and 50% work.  The case management has 5 different pillars where we’re looking for participants to achieve growth: Restorative relationship with God, Work Readiness, Goal Setting, Job Attainment & Housing Attainment.  About half of the time we spend together is spent seeking growth in 1 or more of these areas of life whether in a group setting or individual case management sessions.

The work we do takes on 3 main modes in WorthShop; Service work in the community (yard work, cleaning, car detailing, etc.), creating products (hand crafted candles, soaps & magnets) and cleaning, organizing & setting up for events around 6:8.  The service work and the products we sell help self-subsidize the program in order to help it continue to grow and sustain itself into the future.

We are all created in God's image.  Not one of us has any less value than another, and yet, many of the poor we meet at 6:8 have been told for years that they have less value or are of no worth.  This devaluation occurs through needing to prove how poor they are, lack of love, abuse, and judgement.

The WorthShop offers those in need a chance to demonstrate their value, working to earn what they need.  Clients exchange their time doing service work (cleaning, gardening) as well as creating hand-crafted scented candles, hand-crafted scented soaps & magnets in exchange for receiving essential items (food/fuel), housing/rental assistance, or bill pay assistance in return.  Each exchange opportunity also includes earning time through case management including work in the areas of financial literacy, job seeking, job training, or securing housing.