July 31
Our fiscal year ended June 30. I thought I’d share a glimpse at our statistics for that year.
· The Center was open to serve our guests 169 days.
· We served 1,938 guests
· Total number of people in their households: 4,500
· 80% of our guests reside in New Hanover; 20% in surrounding counties.
· 33% of our guests were ‘first timers’
· 75% of our guests were female.
· We helped with 1,308 requests for financial assistance.
· We distributed approximately $153,000 towards bills for our guests (paid by check directly to the business owed, never directly to our guests.)
· We received approximately $181,800 in donations; in 20-21, we received $124,000.
· Our financial donations came in from grants, parishioners, other church groups, memorials, our volunteers and friends from NC and across the country. We were fortunate to receive several sizeable donations from individuals; this accounted for the large increase from the prior year.
And now, it’s time for us to relax and unwind. We have operated under our ‘Curb Service’ policy for two and a half years; it was a challenging endeavor, and I’m very grateful to all our volunteers, supporters and donors that helped make it happen and allowed us to serve those in need during difficult times. We look forward to fully opening in September; we will increase our volunteer staff and be able to get back to a new normal, serving even more in need.
Special Need: Please hold your donations of material goods until September. If you have items you are unable to hold but would like to donate, consider bringing them to the Rescue Mission at 5th and Castle, any Salvation Army or Habitat Restore location, Vintage Values, Nifty Thrifty, the Bargain Box …. or any other charitable organization. They are all organizations that serve those in need either distributing goods or using proceeds from sales to do good.