SNOW HILL – The holiday season might be over, but local charities are hoping the spirit of giving will continue, as demands for food and financial help continue all year long.
At Worcester County GOLD (Giving Other Lives Dignity), the agency known for its extensive holiday gift program, pleas for emergency financial assistance are received from area residents all the time.
“The biggest part of what we do is emergency financial assistance to prevent eviction, help buy food and help pay for utilities,” said Claire Otterbein, director of Worcester County GOLD. “That’s what the bulk of our money goes toward. It’s an aspect of our organization people don’t know much about.”
Worcester County GOLD was started in 1996 when local social services officials realized there was a gap in emergency services for local residents. Government assistance programs, Otterbein explained, take time. She said enrollment in the food stamp program, for example, could take as long as five days to occur. When the person applying for that assistance hasn’t eaten in days, that can be a long wait. In situations like those, Worcester County GOLD is able to provide bags of food or even money to buy food during the interim.
“Being small allows us to work quickly,” she said. “We can fill the gap.”
The organization, for which Otterbein is the sole employee, has office space in the Worcester County Department of Social Services building. Otterbein said those in need of help were typically referred to the non-profit through social services, the local health department or Worcester Youth and Family Counseling Services.
“We work very closely with those partners,” Otterbein said.
Because the donated space allows the organization to keep its overhead costs down, most of the money contributed is used to fund its array of community programs. In addition to emergency financial assistance, the group provides nearly 1,000 people with holiday gifts in December. Worcester County GOLD also gives backpacks full of school supplies to local kids, hosts a turkey drive, distributes winter coats to those who need them and funds summer camp opportunities for at-risk children.
Otterbein said the organization was also willing to help with any unforeseen emergency expense a person might have — expenses ranging from car repairs to bus tickets. She said Worcester County GOLD regularly helped area residents purchase copies of lost birth certificates so they could apply for jobs.
“It’s all manner of needs,” Otterbein said. “It doesn’t have to fit into a pre-existing category.”
Within the past year, requests for financial assistance from people struggling to pay their utility bills and from those who can’t afford to feed their families have increased, Otterbein said.
“Money doesn’t go as far,” she said.
While funding those requests hasn’t been a problem yet, Otterbein says it will take continued community support to ensure Worcester County GOLD can provide the help sought.
“We have a generous community and we’ve been lucky,” she said, “but if that [trend] continues we will need the community to step up so we can keep pace.”
To better track the number of people in need of help and the types of assistance requested, Otterbein said she was working on finding a grant to enable Worcester County GOLD to set up an electronic records system.
“It’s data we’ve always collected but it’s on paper,” Otterbein said, adding that it would be easier to monitor trends if the information was available via computer. “It could make a big difference.”
In keeping with the times, Worcester County GOLD is also now on Facebook and has the capability of accepting online donations through its website, www.worcestergold.org.
GOLD By The Numbers*
1,754 people received emergency financial assistance
940 people received holiday gifts
591 children received school supplies
168 children were provided with spring baskets
110 winter coats were distributed to those in need
*2013