Agency Details:

Hunterdon Helpline, Inc

Hunterdon Helpline, Inc. will provide listening, information and referral services and, where appropriate, advocacy for all persons, primarily in Hunterdon County, in order to satisfy the wide range of human concerns. It is a goal of Helpline to review the needs of the county and the surrounding areas to develop new programs to meet those future needs.

Description:
Hunterdon Helpline, Inc. is a comprehensive Information and Referral agency for the county that also arranges emergency shelter and food for homeless in Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, makes Assurance Calls, provides compassionate listening, makes Friendly Visitor matches, Translation Services, and LINK radio backup communication. Hunterdon Helpline answers the call for help and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

History:
Hunterdon Helpline was started in 1969 to provide a Teen Hotline and as the service received calls from parents and other county residents it was decided to provide a 24 hour telephone service for help and support for everyone in the county. Programs were added as needs grew in the community. In addition to Listening Helpline began to provide referrals to agencies where the caller could get the help they needed. When the county determined they did not want anyone homeless in an emergency they contracted with Helpline to answer the call at night and on weekends to arrange for a one night stay in a motel. In 2001 Helpline began administering the Friendly Visitor program, which matches a volunteer with a senior for a once a week social visit. Telephone Reassurance calls were provided with a scheduled call and an emergency plan would be put into effect if the senior did not answer the call. In 2002 Helpline added a Assurance Calling program for vulnerable non-senior adults who would benefit from a call (medication reminder, etc.)with funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Helpline handled 75,000 calls in 2008.

Contact people:

Jeanne Cassano, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Michelle Soriano, Program Coordinator, (phone), (email) Judith Buday, Translation Center Coordinator, (phone), (email)

Office fax number: (908) 237-0296

Address:

P.O. Box 246 Flemington, NJ 08822

Web Site: http://www.helplinehc.org

Last updated on November 16, 2009