FISH Emergency Referral Services Program (also known as Friends in Service Helping) is a 501(c)(3) organization that was formed in May 1979 in direct response to the growing numbers of homeless and hungry residents in the Carson City community. Prior to the start of FISH, several organizations in Carson City had each been offering services to needy individuals and families. As the community need grew, these organizations decided to band together and work under one name. These visionary leaders and a dedicated VISTA volunteer, Lea Giffin, founded FISH. While FISH began as a small food closet, it soon began offering shelter services in Carson City when the organization merged with Friends of Citizens Under Stress (FOCUS). After the tragic death of a homeless man during a cold winter night, FOCUS renovated a deserted building in the Stewart Indian School complex and opened rural Nevada’s first homeless shelter; FOCUS House. FISH and FOCUS united in the early 1980’s to collaboratively serve the needs of the homeless and hungry in the community. FISH continues to operate FOCUS House for men along with the Wylie House for women and families. These are the only year-round, publicly accessible emergency shelters in Northern Nevada outside of Reno. Today, FISH has grown to become rural Nevada’s largest and most complete social services program. Our financial support continues to be community focused with only minor support from the federal government.  As the needs of our community have grown, so has our mission.  As we discover unmet needs in our community, we expand our service, or support other organizations that can fill the gap. FISH has met the United Way Standards of Excellence every year since that designation was created. FISH was named Organization of the Year in Carson City in 1992 and 2003-2009 and FISH received the prestigious US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Best Practices Award in 2000. FISH is governed by a board of directors drawn from community leaders who have shown special interest in the plight of those in need in their community. Twenty-seven staff members and over 230 volunteers work side-by-side to meet the challenges of the mission of FISH every day. Our volunteers come from every walk of life and include professionals, retirees, and students. Together, they are the heroes who serve our community.

FY2017 By The Numbers

FOCUS and Wylie House Emergency Shelters made 24 emergency beds available year round. The shelters averaged 21 people per night including some families with children in the Wylie House shelter.

FISH served as the agent for the NVEnergy Special Assistance Fund for Energy grant program in Carson City. In FY2017, FISH administered 225 grants for utility payments

FISH rolled out a “community database”, so local nonprofits and government agencies can jointly track and coordinate services for shared clients. This database improves overall services, reduces duplication of effort, and helps to identify “super utilizers” who over-use available community resources. We find that if our staff has to work harder than the client, the client will not succeed. So we challenge them to take an active role toward self-sufficiency.

Our Transitional Housing Program is designed to help families (who work a minimum of 40 hours per week and have kids under the age of 18) to get stabilized.  FISH offers housing with low rent and gives these families 24 months to achieve a stable financial path.  It's the next step to no longer needing assistance.

FISH is a NV non-profit established in May 1979, to help those in need.  FISH does not rely on the government for funding. 98% of our multi-million dollar budget is funded through the local community via donations and grants, saving millions of dollars in taxes for the communities that we serve.

We have found that by creating a stable living environment, and providing nutritious meals… our clients find a renewed hope.  With hope, clients can more accurately assess their behaviors and skills, and develop a willingness to change behaviors and improve their skills.  Clients create goals and FISH holds them accountable.  For an example, if someone needs an I.D. to begin work, we give them a check made out to the DMV.  The client just needs to follow through.  As clients achieve small goals, we work on bigger goals, like developing skills to move from a minimum wage part-time job to a higher pay full-time job.

We summarize our services using our name, FISH provides Food, Instruction, Shelter, and Health care.  FISH has locations in Carson, Douglas and Lyon counties, where we provide “a hand-up, not a hand-out”.  Last year, FISH served 3,798 Households of which 2,166 were under the federal poverty level.  We provided 336,732 pantry meals, 25,747 dining meals and 7,731 nights of shelter at our two emergency shelters.