About Us
TACO’s Mission Statement: TACO is a community drawn together to support the dignity, health, and well-being of people among us experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Third Avenue Charitable Organization, a social ministry born out of First Lutheran Church, provides a safe and welcoming place where healing of mind, body, and spirit can happen for any and all who come. In operation every week of the year, it welcomes all people in need, regardless of religion, for free meals, medical and dental care, and mental health services. To read more about TACO’s dream, click here.
TACO’s current ministries, listed to the left, are made possible by the support of grants from several organizations and the support of local institutions and volunteers. The members of First Lutheran Church also support TACO with generous monetary and in-kind gifts as well as many volunteer hours.
For a printable (.pdf) brochure about TACO's services and mission, click here (requires Acrobat Reader - to download the latest version of Acrobat reader, visit this site).
A short video featuring TACO's services, including meals, clinics, and medical outreach. We first showed this video during our 2014 Bread Upon the Waters fundraiser.
Many thanks to Peggy Peattie for creating and producing this video. Peggy is a Visual Journalist, storyteller, kayaker, hiker, naturalist, and blogger. With 30 years of experience in newspaper photojournalism, she has been on staff at the Union-Tribune for 15 years.