There are many ways to describe Preble Street: drop-in centers, soup kitchens, food pantry, shelters, social work services, supported housing. These descriptions only tell part of the story of who we are, though. We are a community at Preble Street. The “We” means everyone involved: staff, board, volunteers, donors, and especially those who use our services. Everyone is welcome at Preble Street, everyone is respected and treated with dignity, and everyone is invited to contribute to the effort of meeting our mission: "To provide accessible barrier-free services to empower people experiencing problems with homelessness, housing, hunger, and poverty, and to advocate for solutions to these problems."​ Preble Street is about people. Passionate and generous people who say with our founder, Joe Kreisler, "I am a human being. Part of my job, part of being alive, is making sure that other people are too."​ People who believe that families living in poverty should not have to go hungry, that no one should have to be on the street when they are tired or sick or cold, that youth who have no home should not have to live in fear and danger. People who see their homeless neighbors as men and women, boys and girls with dignity, worth, and potential. And most of all, the courageous people who come to Preble Street seeking help to overcome unimaginably difficult circumstances—disabilities, abuse, unemployment, addictions, isolation, language barriers. People working together to turn hunger and homelessness into opportunity and hope through programs that operate 24/7/365 to meet the needs of 500 people each day.