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Meet Nicolee Thompson of Harvest Compassion Center Phoenix

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicolee Thompson.

Nicolee, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Harvest Compassion Center Phoenix, a local food, and clothing bank was started 6 years ago in the memory of Mitch Swaback, a 23-year-old, whose life was cut short in a drowning accident. My family immediately started a private foundation 13 years ago (which has grown into a public charity) to continue Mitch’s legacy of serving others. Mitch was the go-to friend, brother roommate who never said no to anyone in need. HCC Phoenix’s mission is to challenge and engage a person’s heart in the act of helping others. HCC Phoenix’s vision was shaped by lack of local economic growth during the recession.

HCC Phoenix wanted to be an ongoing project that would truly serve families each week, with immediate results, as well as, getting the local community involved. We are unique from other ‘food banks’ because we allow complete choice and freedom when families enter our center. Families shop freely from our shelves for food, hygiene, clothing, household and baby items completing a whole and dignified shopping experience. Guests are also given referrals for other areas that they are seeking assistance during their hardship. The facts are real, 1 in 4 kids and 1 in 5 adults have a food hardship in Arizona, and we see this first hand three days a week while open. However, past the food, we wanted to offer a full-service center that families could benefit from. All our clothing has been washed, tagged, and stocked just like a department store, it’s truly the place kids call “the store that’s free!” Our mission is run a first class, a clean operation where families want to come back when in need.

The HCC Phoenix fundraises year-round and accepts no government funding allowing the center to welcome anyone in Arizona to shop. Also, we hold back-to-school supply drives as well as a Christmas Toy drives, so families can use us as a resource during those months. The HCC Phoenix started very small serving only a few individuals weekly, however, 6 years later 500 families a month are being served, in turn, is approximately 6,000 families a year! We are also excited to announce our next HCC that will be opening in the West Valley in 2018!

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No of course not! We baby-stepped opening the Harvest Compassion Center Phoenix. Our first location was generously donated space given to us by Harvest Bible Chapel North Phoenix where we stayed rent-free for our first three years. However, we outgrew the 1,500-square foot room and are now in our permanent 4,000 square foot facility. We didn’t even have a computer when we first opened, we did everything by hand using large notebooks and check-in sheets.

We’ve now streamlined to going paperless! We were completely run by full and part-time volunteers in the beginning and now have grown to two full-time directors and part-time paid shift leaders. Funding, product, and volunteers are the top three needs of any non-profit, that is why we continue to make new connections everyday spreading our mission and outreach. Our goal is to have every neighbor involved in our centers, where the concept of neighbors taking care of neighbors is being lived out.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Harvest Compassion Center Phoenix – what should we know?
We have successfully opened a center where everyone in Arizona is treated equally, with a mission to improve the quality of life for each guest. Ensuring that families and children have enough food is an essential component to the direct success of an individual (1 in 4 children and 1 in 5 adults live with a food hardship in Arizona!). A child cannot learn and grow at school/home when they are in survival mode. The HCC Phoenix allows a family to come in freely and shop for food items they enjoy, hygiene items they use, baby items they need and clothing they like! Guests don’t have to fill out piles of paperwork or get verified based on a zip code, ACCESS level or income, we keep it simple, everyone is welcome! If the HCC Phoenix can help fill stomachs and closets then more families struggling in stressful economic times are able to spend their hard working dollars towards their rent and utilities.

The HCC Phoenix strives to be more than just a local food bank. For starters, it’s set up like a store where guests are able to shop and choose their desired food, hygiene, household and baby items. Likewise, each guest is encouraged to pick out clothing items including undergarments, shoes, socks and more. The HCC also gives our free Christmas toys and school supplies during the year. After visiting the HCC each guest is referred to other state and local resources to further serve the needs of their family. The HCC Phoenix is also a place of encouragement and love, we offer Bibles and prayer to every guest which gives them new hope for tomorrow. Our mission is to treat each HCC Phoenix guest like our own family, with dignity, quality, and class.

The one thing that I’m most proud of is that God has allowed us to truly be a center that feels different, we handle each guest with such care that many of our guests are blown away.

Guest after guest tell us, our volunteers, etc. how different our center ‘feels,’ that they can see the attention to detail we take in having a super clean center, only provide clothing that is laundered and looks brand new, and calls every guest by name, not a number. We walk through life with our guests, encouraging them through the loss of a loved one, loss of a job or sometimes just trying to point them in the right direction. Every walk of life is welcome at the HCC Phoenix, and we truly see all walks of life, and everyone gets along, is helpful and truly respects our hard work. The most rewarding thing about the HCC Phoenix is when HCC guests come back as volunteers, those who have landed back on their feet, are doing well and come back to pay it forward!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Of course, I do, my parents and husband helped start the HCC Phoenix, it was a family effort! My parent’s lost their only son, that is a tragedy that no parent should ever have to walk through. Although, they are my strongest inspiration as I watched them lean in on the Lord and turn the darkest days of their life into some of the most rewarding. Boy and Gaye Swaback, my parents, decided to lean in and focus on helping others during their time of grief, my husband Paul Thompson, followed their lead. When you truly take the focus off yourself to serve someone else, all your own selfishness and needs go away.

The HCC Phoenix also has had a handful of extended family members and friends who have been with us from the beginning, watching the HCC Phoenix grow and succeed, and yes, cheered us on all the way! Including my 90-year-old grandfather (Chuck Sampson) who still hosts home patio parties spreading the word about the HCC, collects gently used clothing for us year-round and races (yes, RACES) all of our 5k fundraisers with Team HCC! Proving you’re never too young or old to do something to truly make a difference!

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