Lovingly aiding people over the hardships of life by connecting with them in the name of Jesus Christ, and helping to provide assistance when and where other agencies are not available.

Who Is Grace Connection?

Grace Connection is an ecumenical venture of the churches in the Towanda, Northeast Bradford, Wyalusing and Sullivan County School Districts in Pennsylvania that strives to fulfill God's calling to offer assistance to the poor and the disadvantaged while remaining good stewards of God's resources.  Our shared information and resources work toward both of these ends.  The aim of Grace Connection is to lovingly aid people over the hardships of life by connecting with them in the name of Jesus Christ, and to help provide assistance when and where other agencies are not available.  Though not a church in itself, pastors and approved representatives associated with Grace Connection will graciously provide spiritual guidance for anyone in need.  Emergency assistance will never be contingent upon acceptance of any spiritual services.

 What Do We Do?

Grace Connection provides emergency assistance for an immediate source (every six months) of shelter (including assistance with security deposit, rent, & utilities), transportation, food, clothing, furniture, prescriptions, and/or hygiene items.  The assistance provided is in no way intended to be a reliable source of income to the client.  Rather, it is an aid for establishing a more secure future.

 What is The Clearinghouse?

Grace Connection operates through the use of a central clearinghouse which gathers information on clients and approves dispersal of funds.  The Clearinghouse ensures that people are not "using the system" and works in close connection with other area agencies.

The Clearinghouse of Grace Connection is located in Trinity Lutheran Church, Towanda, PA. The Clearinghouse is manned by volunteers trained for the task and trained in maintaining confidentiality. 

The Clearinghouse functions in these ways:

a.  Takes the application of the client.

b.  Determines if a client has been helped within the past six months.

c.  Provides the client with information regarding other assisting agencies.

d.  Seeks a background check if deemed necessary.       

e.  Provides clients with financial counseling after two or more requests for assistance.

f.  Approves the request after thorough review.  

g.  Forwards information to the on-call pastor who can arrange for secondary approval and any needed follow-up or guidance.

Action on any request will generally be no sooner than 24 hours with exception to emergency situations.  Most situations are not such emergencies that they cannot be handled during the regular hours when the Clearinghouse is open or be held until the next scheduled hours so that a thorough review can be performed, approval of the request can be obtained, and a check can be written to the appropriate vendor.  To assure proper use of funds, checks will never be written out to the client. 

Again, the Clearinghouse assures the community that transients and others are not approaching multiple churches for the same need.  These pooled resources are a proven encouragement for community donations.  It also provides pastors and congregations a place to turn when needs are standing on their doorsteps, literally.