New Life Day Center Exists to be a connecting point for those experiencing homelessness to get connected with the various community services to help them exit homelessness and find immediate shelter, needed programs, permanent housing, and sustainable long-term employment. In addition to providing a respite from outside weather conditions when many overnight shelters are closed during the day, NLDC provides daily breakfast and coffee, a place where they can receive mail, and locker storage for regular clients who check in every 30 days. Types of community services that we can assist our clients to locate include:

Options for temporary and permanent shelter
Drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs and sober living homes
Daily toiletries, socks, hats, and gloves
Help with accessing potential benefits through the Social Security Administration and Veterans Administration
Referrals to local community resources that provide more extensive case management, clothing, meals, and showers
Access to the medical and mental health services via the clinic co-located in our building
Faith programs twice weekly
Employment programs

New Life Day Center assists those in need in the downtown Lexington area. Through our services, we help empower individuals to become stable, independent, and proud. With your help, we serve some of our city’s most vulnerable in life-changing ways. We use your support to help offer medical services, get panhandlers off the streets, house individuals, and ultimately connect them to Christ.

In 2016, there were upwards of 125 panhandlers on the streets at any given time in Lexington. Other cities had success with a public awareness campaign and panhandling van to reduce the number of panhandlers on the streets. Mayor Jim Gray tasked New Life Day Center with benchmarking and operating the End Panhandling Now Van to reduce numbers across the city.

Not only has the van reduced the number of active panhandlers by over 85%, hundreds of miles of city roads have been picked up in our first three years! The panhandlers also prefer to work for their money, rather than standing on the street corners which is dangerous and demeaning.

How the Panhandling Van Has Helped: 
11: Number of panhandlers that work per day
2-10: Number of miles cleaned per day
150: Number of bags of litter picked up per day

*In April of 2016, 125 panhandlers were counted on the streets.
In September 2019, 15 panhandlers were counted on the streets.