By Helen Borland / Staff

If you need economic help on the Northside, you’ve got a friend in North Fulton Community Charities (NFCC).

By the looks of things, a lot of families need a friend right now, to the tune of about 130 per week, which represents a whopping 30 percent increase over last year.

NFCC, founded by over 70 churches in the North Fulton area in 1983, currently receives money from United Way and Fulton County grants to pay the salaries of the people employed there. All other donations – whether cash, clothes or hard goods – go directly to support local needy families.

According to Barbara Duffy, the director of NFCC, they distribute over nine tons of food each week, thanks in large part to the many volunteers who augment paid staff by serving four hour shifts to help run the food bank. There is also a Thrift Shop next door where families can get previously donated clothes for free.

Formerly a motorcycle shop, NFCC has occupied its 20,000 square foot pavilion on Elkins Road since Aug. 1, 2005, less than four weeks before Hurricane Katrina slammed the Gulf coast.

“We had a slow start,” said Duffy, “but after Katrina we were deluged by families and it hasn’t stopped since.” A tour of the facility shows a clean, pleasant waiting room and a full, orderly food pantry and food storage room. The Thrift Shop is open to the public, but clients can shop there once a month to get two free outfits for each member of their family. Duffy related that their sponsors tend to increase their giving at the onset of the holiday season and they are well stocked right now as a result.

But the room that holds dry and canned goods was completely empty in July.

Luckily, 27 area schools recently had successful canned good drives to restock their pantries.

WHO GOES TO NFCC?

Historically, the majority of the families who frequent NFCC tend to be lower wage earners.

But this year is different. More middle class families are finding themselves becoming increasingly dependent on the local charity, as the recessionary noose has tightened around their necks. Breadwinners have lost their jobs, spent all their savings, cashed out their 401(k)’s and had their house on the market—or foreclosed.

NFCC “can’t pay the mortgage,” according to Lead Case Manager, William Wertz, “but we can give them money to pay their utilities.” Just keeping the water, lights and heat on is important. The most common plea both Duffy and Wertz hear is “All I want is a job.”

NFCC has four caseworkers, three of which speak Spanish. They don’t offer long-term counseling, but they partner with other organizations that can provide those services if needed.

CHRISTMAS CRUNCH

Wertz explained that many families feel a lot of pressure to give their children gifts at Christmas, so they spend the money and then they don’t have it to pay the rent in January. To help with this situation, NFCC has established their Holiday Program. Starting in September, parents can sign up to get free toys for their children at no cost. After the paperwork is filled out, each family writes a letter to tell about themselves.

The parents craft a wish list with their children; the lists are given to community sponsors and donors who purchase the gifts. The donors read the letters but they don’t meet the recipients. Over 770 families signed up to take part this year. Additionally, they have Santa’s Workshop where over 700 children and parents will be allowed to choose new toys off shelves. Last, but not forgotten, are the elderly.

Over 100 seniors get home visits from their sponsors. They may also receive financial assistance to help pay for medications from time to time.

Even though the vision of NFCC is “to compassionately offer hope and dignity to North Fulton families and individuals in need,” that doesn’t mean they can extend financial help every time someone walks in the door. “In October”, Duffy offered, “we were at the end of our rope.” The only funds coming in were donations in the daily mail. “One day we got $231 and were able to help a few people.” Duffy said she started out telling the volunteers to ask their clients to come back the next day, but soon changed that to “come back next week.”

Even though they are not a faith-based non-profit, they needed a miracle— and one appeared. Duffy said a woman came into her office during that dark time and handed her a personal check for $20,000. That was enough to get them through that rough spot.

Wertz told the story of a professional man in his 40’s who lost his job in July. He has four children and was getting unemployment benefits, but it wasn’t enough to pay the mortgage, car payment, utilities and keep food on the table. On top of that, his wife has breast cancer and is going through chemotherapy. NFCC helped by giving him money for his utilities. He could also get food for his family every 10 days if he wanted to help stretch the dollars he has.

Duffy shared that NFCC is extremely fortunate because there is such tremendous support from the community. “Donations are up over 20 percent from last year, but the need is up over 30 percent.”

If you would like to make a donation of time, money, food or clothes, you can contact North Fulton Community Charities at 770-640-0399 or www.nfcchelp.org.

You can email Helen Borland at hborland@beaconcast.com.