A Call To Serve (ACTS) Ministries of Iowa is merging with The Well.

ACTS matches volunteers who want to help in their community with people who need a hand with home-related projects, while The Well provides encouragement and support, training, referrals, and other assistance as its staff and volunteers walk alongside people with mental, emotional, and physical issues that often result in needs.

Executive Director of The Well Jayson Henry tells KNIA/KRLS News the two nonprofit service organizations based in Pella have been exploring a stronger partnership over the last six months.

Henry says not only does the merger help expand the ability to help more people through the work of ACTS, they are also able to assist with guiding more of their clients back into the workforce.

“By working more actively on employment and employment skills for our clients, we can walk alongside them in a more significant way,” he said.

Client data shows that around 70 percent of the clients seen by the Well could use an improvement in their current work situation.

Henry said he is frequently asked why a Well client with a financial need doesn’t just go out and get a job. “It’s not quite that simple,” he said. “Getting and keeping a job requires emotional stability and physical stability, like reliable housing or transportation. It takes a set of basic work-related skills that some people do not yet have.”

Hear more about The Well and ACTS merger on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.