The P.A.M Group Home (People Aiding the Multi-handicapped) is a state- and federally-funded home designed to help severely handicapped individuals learn living skills. These clients are encouraged to live life to its fullest by engaging in several activities and events aided by the P.A.M employees and volunteers. Volunteers are encouraged to work with P.A.M's clients with programs like music therapy, activities support and gardening.
Puyallup Food Bank provides food for those in need and raises awareness of issues of hunger within the local community. The food bank serves as a collection and distribution center, offering and accepting food, sundries and personal hygeine products (when available), including goverment commodities like eggs, meat and bulk staples. It also has a pet food bank, a birthday gift program and school supplies and backpacks for children who need them. Information on donations and how to qualify for assistance can be found on the food bank's website.
Located in the Holy Disciples Catholic Church side parking lot, the Graham South Hill food bank is just one of the seven fish food banks serving Pierce county. The food bank is run mostly by volunteers, and it provides food to low-income and homeless individuals in the area. Contributors to the food bank can make donations by dropping off food to the bank -- perishable and canned. The food bank asks contributors to call ahead when donating perishable items to ensure that the items are well cared for.
The Share & Care House of Puyallup is part of the Share & Care organization, which provides help for disabled, low-income families and homeless individuals in the area of Puyallup, Tacoma and Seattle as well as Tigard, Ore. Puyallup's Share & Care House location is an office which works with low-income families to provide assistance with temporary housing, rent and utilities. Puyallup's location also works with local churches under the program Freezing Nights to help homeless individuals sleep in warm churches on cold winter nights. The Share & Care House organization's services include clothing banks, housing, guardianship and payee/fiduciary programs.
St. Francis House was founded in 1974 for the purpose of aiding the families and individuals of Puyallup and East Pierce County. Today, St. Francis is a busy community of two full-time employees, four part-time employees and various volunteers who work to assist eligible individuals with a clothing bank, ESL classes and evening meals. Clients who use the services undergo an initial interview and are issued an ID card. St. Francis House is currently expanding its operation to include more storage space and a new office space, and the charity welcomes new volunteers and donations.
St. Francis' donation drop-off site is changed, due to construction from October thru April 2011. Donations can be dropped off at 500 River Road Monday thru Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Mission Statement
Our Mission is to create a vital, inviting downtown that promotes quality business, cultural and community growth.
Vision Statement
The Puyallup Main Street Association envisions a downtown business district that is alive, inviting, healthy and thriving while retaining its hometown, friendly charm. Our downtown will be a family-oriented place in which business owners and shoppers or clients know one another on a first-name basis. We want a downtown that everyone can feel proud of and enthusiastically show off to visitors. We believe a successful downtown business district should be the kind of place, where people can have fun, feel safe, earn a living, and make memories that last a lifetime. Downtown Puyallup has a rich history and a bright future. It is a unique city to which people will feel welcomed by those of us who call it home, and to which visitors will want to return time and again.
Main Street Approach
Main Street is a strategy for the renewal of our communities and downtowns, based on the experience of thousands of towns that have rejuvenated their central shopping districts. The Main Street approach is incremental. It does not produce instant change. Instant change, such as a pedestrian mall or a town “theme,” provides excitement and a sense of something happening, but usually fails. The underlying causes of decline in the downtown have not been treated. The Main Street approach is effective because it addresses those underlying causes while rebuilding a positive, coordinated image of the downtown. Effective Main Street programs focus on four areas simultaneously:
The Puyallup/Sumner Chamber of Commerce is a great place for business owners to network and build relationships in the valley community. Monthly coffee socials, political forums and leadership summits are all available to members. The conference room is available by reservation. There are approximately 530 Chamber members, with about 10 percent of them based in Sumner. That number is exponentially growing, along with the opportunities for local visibility, marketing and membership perks. The Chamber is also a great resource for Puyallup and Sumner visitors, with lots of resources and literature on local attractions and regional history.