“We help people and families in crisis, those that are facing tough situations. Whether it’s an illness, sudden childcare issues or something that keeps someone out of work, there are a range of circumstances that cause people to need help. Veterans’ pensions, disability, social security, those things are not keeping up with inflation. Twenty-five percent of our county’s population is at 130% of the federal poverty level or below. We served 53,427 people last year and distributed 386,950 pounds of food.

When someone comes to us, our goal is to support them comprehensively. Last August, we helped a struggling, working single mother of three by providing fully stocked backpacks, and new sneakers and clothes for the kids, and by telling her about the food pantry. A month later one of the kids got sick and was hospitalized, and she was having difficulty paying the rent due to medical bills, so we assisted with that. At Christmas we’ll make sure the kids have some toys.

Recently, a gentleman was working two jobs, so we gave him access to our services after regular hours. We try to put people in a situation of stability, so they can work on the other parts of their life that will benefit their long-term wellbeing. We love it when someone comes in and tells us that they got a new job, or new apartment, and are doing well, and that they won’t be seeing us for a while

We do this with a small but mighty staff of 14 that handles intake and programming, and an army of more than 600 volunteers that do everything from gleaning for the panty and accounting, to working the front desk. The county is our landlord, they bought and outfitted our building for us, and the level of support they provide is amazing — they reach out to us often to ask, ‘what do you need?’.

We’re also grateful for continued donations from individuals and groups like BEMC, The United Way, Novant and some very special family foundations. We’re truly the community’s organization, and we work extremely hard to keep our administrative costs down. Ninety-four cents of every dollar we fundraise goes directly to programming, and we’re really proud of that.”

For more information about services, and ways to donate, visit brunswickfamily.org.