Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Demand for assistance from Sweet Home Emergency Ministries (SHEM) decreased during the first part of the year, but it surged again and is about as large as ever now.
“The year started out real slow,” Executive Director Rebeccah McClaskey said. “The numbers were down.”
Many clients had started taking only a box every two months instead of monthly, McClaskey said. Many were recovering with the economy, but about August the need for food boxes started climbing again.
SHEM provides one food box per month to needy families. The box provides four days worth of food.
The organization also provides clothing and homeless supplies free of charge and provides a free meal on Fridays at United Methodist Church every Friday night. The program, called Manna, provided 417 meals in November. An extension site serving 35 meals operates at Crawfordsville Community Church.
SHEM also can provide financial assistance through United Way and Salvation Army.
For Christmas, SHEM distributed 248 dinner boxes and invited 36 families to a free dinner held at the Jim Riggs Community Center.
At the beginning of the year, SHEM provided between 240 and 260 boxes per month to needy families, McClaskey said. Since August, SHEM has provided between 280 and 300.
September tied SHEM’s record of 338 boxes, originally set in 2004, McClaskey said. Last year, SHEM averaged 304 boxes per month. This year, with the slow start to the year, the average will be about 287 boxes per month.
“I haven’t figured out why that is yet because the economy is supposed to be recovering,” McClaskey said. Many people have lost their jobs in the last two months, and companies often lay off workers in the third quarter.
“I still think unemployment is our biggest issue,” McClaskey said. She said she reads about businesses who say they have a hard time finding skilled labor, so she thinks that training programs are important to reducing the need for help.
SHEM officials were concerned earlier this year that Hurricane Katrina would draw Federal Emergency Management Agency food away from the food banks, but that did not happen, McClaskey said. Food contributions from FEMA remained about even with last year.
General donations were down, McClaskey said, and SHEM has been unable to get some things it orders from the Oregon Food Bank.
In-kind food donations have remained relatively stable, McClaskey said, but food drives have been off some.
“Some of it could be attributed to Katrina, donations that left the area; and some of it is people are still struggling,” McClaskey said, and they are unable to help provide for others at this time.
“I think we’ll see improvement more and more as the economy recovers,” McClaskey said. SHEM is seeing signs of hope.
While donations have been down, in 2005, SHEM is “in the black” for the first time in a long time, McClaskey said. In 2004, with an increase in donations, SHEM closed an $11,000 deficit to $2,000.
“This year, we are coming in in the black; but our donations are down right now,” McClaskey said. “We did have some of our churches increase their donations.”
SHEM also ran a rummage sale along with a couple of other activities celebrating its 25th anniversary, McClaskey said. McClaskey is planning to start a newsletter to community churches and organizations to improve communication and give them a picture of SHEM’s general financial health.
The best opportunity a church can provide is to let the congregations decide how much to give, she said. Some churches do a second collection for SHEM, and those are some of the biggest donors to SHEM.
McClaskey said she’s happy that SHEM is in the black.
“It’s good news. We’re coming out of it (the red). I just want to stay out of it. It’s been a very long road with contacting people and a fund-raiser established.”
Next year, SHEM has to find a new home.
“Our building has sold,” McClaskey said. “The new owner is honoring the current lease, ending June 30.
The board will meet the first of January to begin figuring out what to do, McClaskey said.
“We’re a faith-based organization, and this is one of those times we’re operating on faith.”
Now that SHEM is in the black and demonstrating fiscal responsibility, McClaskey said she would like to construct a new building for SHEM and other agencies that serve the poor in the area, cutting down on expenses for the organizations housed in the building.