PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — An nonprofit organization in Center City that provides social services to people experiencing deep poverty has changed its name to show a little more love.
“So, love is at the heart of radical hospitality. And now love will be at the heart of our name,” said Laure Biron, CEO of Broad Street Love, formerly known as Broad Street Ministry. She says the name was changed to make the service more inviting and to correspond with its mission to create connection and community, restore hope and dignity, and increase security and self-sufficiency to people experiencing deep poverty.
“I think that not a lot of folks fully understand what ‘ministry’ is, but people do know what ‘love’ is,” said Biron. “And love is what you receive when you walk through our front doors.”
The Broad Street Love building was once a church, and Broad Street Ministry was once a faith-based organization. That history is carried forward in the new logo, which uses the diamond shapes from the building’s stained-glass windows to form the “V” in the word “love.”
Broad Street Love remains a “faith-founded” organization — and that foundation, Biron says, allows the nonprofit to practice outside the norms of social service.
“And it means that we are hospitable to our guests, much in the way that you will see at some of our best hotels and restaurants in Philadelphia.”
She says the name has changed, but the services that treat guests with dignity and respect remain the same. Hot meals, made with certified organic produce are served in the dining room five afternoons a week. There’s a clothing boutique, the distribution of hygiene products and resource coordination which is done through a program called Concierge.
And there’s a mailroom, where more than 5,000 people use the organization’s address to receive mail.