Harmony Center seeks $100,000 from city to launch daily meal and empowerment program

Martine Hillaire, founder of the Thousand Members Club and lead organizer for the Harmony Center, asked the Junction City Commission to back a planned community meal and empowerment program — the Harmony Table — with $100,000 in startup support.

The request came during a special presentation in which Hillaire and Ayesha Summeron, introduced as a social work student intern and proposed case manager, described a multi-part program that aims to serve daily meals, deliver individualized case management and offer a business-mentorship incubator called “Be My Love” (B M L O V). “Gary County has 1 of the highest rate in Kansas with childhood hunger reaching 20.5 percent in 2022,” Summeron said, citing local food-insecurity figures she attributed to Feeding America and the Kansas Food Bank.

Hillaire told commissioners the program’s annual operating cost is about $366,500, including roughly $190,000 for food, staff salaries and some kitchen equipment. She asked the city for $100,000 toward that total and said she plans to pursue county support, private foundations and a potential $50,000 award from T-Mobile that, she said, requires demonstrable community backing. Hillaire said the Harmony Table’s goal at full capacity is to serve at least 75 meals per day and help about 10 participants obtain employment each month.

Commissioners asked detailed financial and operational questions. Hillaire said the Harmony Center is operating in leased space that is being supported by the Thousand Members Club; she provided an estimate of $2,000 per month for rent and about $500 per month for utilities. She said the Thousand Members Club is a registered 501(c)(3) and that the project would track participant outcomes and provide financial reporting. “When you have somebody else’s money in your possession, you have to be accountable and you have to be transparent in the way that the money is being spent,” Hillaire said.

Several commissioners expressed support for the project in principle but raised concerns about scale, accountability and overlap with existing providers. One commissioner suggested a smaller pilot and asked for additional commitments from other funders before the city issues major grants. City staff and commissioners discussed in-kind options, such as donating equipment or covering utilities or trash for the facility, rather than a one-time cash grant.

On discrete actions, commissioners agreed to provide letters of support for grant applications; Hillaire requested five letters from the commission. The commission also voted to give a $3,500 sponsorship to Harmony Fest after a friendly amendment that Hillaire first seek assistance from the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). The motion as amended passed without recorded opposition. The donation was described as unrestricted support for the event; commissioners discussed but did not adopt a policy to fund new nonprofits uniformly.

The commission did not approve a direct $100,000 appropriation during the meeting. Commissioners asked Hillaire to return with follow-up material: a list of confirmed grant and foundation commitments, a detailed budget breakdown (including per-meal cost assumptions and equipment needs), documentation of the Thousand Members Club’s 501(c)(3) determination letter, and a plan for pilot-phase metrics and governance (including local board membership). Hillaire said she would pursue county and foundation partners and come back with more specific commitments.

Why it matters: Commissioners face competing requests from established organizations and new initiatives while attempting to set transparent criteria for city funding. The Harmony Table proposal combines emergency food service with job-readiness and language-skills training; if funded at scale, the program would become one of Junction City’s larger direct service efforts aimed at food insecurity.

What’s next: Hillaire will solicit letters of support and pursue other funders, meet with the CVB, and return to the commission with additional documentation and a possible pilot plan requested by commissioners.