NONPROFIT FOUNDER’S ONE STOP RESOURCE SHOP HELPS THOSE IN NEED

In His Hands Resource Center was founded by Nykoa Farmer, who has an affinity for helping the senior community. PHOTO PROVIDED BY NYKOA FARMER.
In His Hands Resource Center was founded by Nykoa Farmer, who has an affinity for helping the senior community. PHOTO PROVIDED BY NYKOA FARMER.

NONPROFIT FOUNDER’S ONE STOP RESOURCE SHOP HELPS THOSE IN NEED

BY TIA CAROL JONES

Nykoa Farmer founded In His Hands Resource Center out of grief. She lost someone she loved right before the pandemic. She turned that grief into a nonprofit organization that provides resources to individuals, entrepreneurs and community organizations.

Farmer describes In His Hands Resource Center as a one-stop shop for resources. It is her way of tapping into her passion of what she loves to do. One of her favorite sayings is, “When you learn better, you do better.”

Farmer has learned the value of true partnership. She believes true partnership can maximize what is provided
to the community. She started the Farmers to Families program during the pandemic. For the family, which
provides food to families in need, she was able to partner with other community organizations and churches and
was able to feed more than 100,000 families during the pandemic.

In His Hands also is an Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Community Navigator, which helps small business owners access grants, assist with financial planning, marketing outreach and technical assistance. The goal of the program is to reduce the barriers and alleviate the issues under resourced businesses face applying to relief programs.

Farmer lives and breathes everything that she does. She remembers standing in the line with her mother for food, waiting in long lines for hours, only to receive subpar food. She wanted to change that, so she applied for grants that would enable In His Hands to provide food for people. Every month on the third Wednesday and Thursday, In His Hands Resource Center feeds 200 families. It is part of the
Build Healthy program, which partnered with Top Box Foods to provide the boxes for the families. Farmer wants to provide the resources with dignity and pride.

When Farmer first started In His Hands, she helped people with funeral and burial costs. People needed assistance,
especially during the pandemic, where people couldn’t afford to bury their loved ones. She is still providing that service for people in need.

To start her organization, Farmer began networking, doing more listening and less talking. She was advised to start her own website. She did that. She became certified and started to facilitate workshops for non-profits, also on the advice of someone who wanted to help her. “It took strangers to help me get to where I am. So, when it was time, my hands were open to receive all the blessings God had for me,” Farmer said.

Farmer helps business owners get in alignment -- get an EIN, grants and a business bank account. She was connected with Discover Customer Care Center and Amazon. She wants to make a change in someone’s
life, the way someone made a change in her and her
mom’s lives. She has created a life that is best for her
and her mom.

Farmer wants people to tap into what they know and lean on it and everything will keep moving. She also wants people to take time for themselves, breathe and take it all in. For more information, visit www. ihhresources.com, call 1-312-768-3871 or email ihh.nfp@gmail.com.

Latest Stories

Latest Podcast

STARR Community Services International, Inc.