Despite many businesses and organizations slowing down due to COVID-19 closures in 2020, The Well saw growth in many areas.

Executive Director Jayson Henry says the non-profit organization continued to provide a wide array of services to those in need at their locations in Pella and Knoxville, even as the pandemic stopped other aspects of life — and the mental health and work-based issues that grew from those closures made their operations nearly 40 to 70 percent busier depending on the department.

Henry says despite a downward trend in volunteer hours, they were still able to accomplish many of their goals set out for the past year.

“The first part of the year, we announced some big projects that we were going to do; we announced a partnership with a ministry called Discover Hope out of Newton, and that is now operational at our Pella site,” he says. “We talk about graz, the new healthy food, produce, lunch counter, coffee shop in Pella, and that opened in August, and the third thing we talked about was Fairfield — so we are putting a Well in Fairfield…honestly, we are a few weeks away from opening the Thrift Store and the ministry services will fall four-to-six weeks behind that.”

Hear more about The Well on their website and on today’s Let’s Talk Pella.