With donations at the lowest level in seven years, need at the highest levels ever and with the holidays just around the corner, the Good Samaritan Ministries is carrying on with business as usual.
Families still come in daily to get food. No one is turned away. Assistance with rent and utilities is still offered though the number of households that can be helped has decreased. Christmas boxes will still be given out during the month of December.
Life at the ministry still goes on because people in the community still need help.
“We know probably better than anyone that the economy is bad and people are trying to hold on to what they have,” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director of GSM. “It just so happens that when the economy is at its worst – jobs are lost, hours are cut, price of groceries are increasing, the delicate balance keeping finances stable has long since toppled – families need the services of Good Samaritan Ministries more than ever.”
For three months in a row more than 1,000 families have come through the front doors of GSM needing help with grocery staples. Almost 140,000 pounds of food were given away in each of the three months, and at 18 cents a pound that’s roughly $25,000 per month just to purchase food for families in need.
And, of course, that’s not counting the certain increase that the holidays will bring.
“December is always our largest month since we give out Christmas boxes filled with most of the ingredients needed to make a traditional Christmas dinner in addition to our regular grocery staples,” Bostick said. “Some people may see the Christmas boxes as unnecessary, but in all that we do here at GSM we try to give the one thing that is more important than food or financial assistance – dignity. And we believe it is important for our families to have the tools necessary to provide a Christmas dinner for their family.”
It will cost approximately $35 to provide one Christmas box for one family. Based on current numbers and precedents from holidays past, Bostick said the GSM Food Pantry could see as many as 2,000 families during the month of December.
“We are already at an almost 20 percent increase over the same time last year,” Bostick said. “Usually from this time to the end of the year, we see about a 30 percent increase. That’s potentially a 50 percent increase from the last few months to December.”
With giving down, Bostick said GSM has been looking at creative ways to encourage people to give. Here are a few ideas she suggested:
- Pack a lunch once a week and put the money you would have spent eating out in a jar. Encourage friends and coworkers to do the same. At the end of the month (or each week) donate the contents of the jar to GSM.
- Commit to donating $10, $20, $50 or more each month to GSM. It takes the sting out of a large one-time payment. And your $10 will buy over 100 pounds of food!
- Instead of an office party for Christmas this year, encourage your employer to donate the money that would have been spent to help families in your community make it through the holidays.
- You know that person on your Christmas list who seems to have everything? Consider making a donation in their honor to GSM.
- During November and December, consider having a collection box to collect items for Christmas boxes or to replenish the shelves that will be bare come January. (Let GSM know if you have a collection box and they will include your business name in their PSA’s.)
- Along those same lines, if you don’t want a box cluttering the entry way to your business, have a fund jar for customers to donate monetarily to GSM.
“The sky’s the limit as far as creative ways to give,” Bostick said. “It’s always fun to see the ideas that people come up with, but even more important is knowing that families who are hurting right here in Brown County might have a little relief during a time that is typically very trying and stressful.”
Donations may be mailed to P.O. Box 1136, Brownwood; dropped off in person at 305 Clark Street, or made online via PayPal at goodsambwd.org.
