Interfaith Ministries of Denton reports significant increase in clients served this year

by PegNews wire

DENTON — It’s been a busy year for Interfaith Ministries of Denton, Inc.

A cooperative outreach program consisting of 22 area faith-based affiliates, Interfaith Ministries provides emergency assistance to residents of Denton County in a variety of areas, including rent/shelter assistance, utility assistance, emergency medication needs, transportation, adult and child eye exams and glasses, winter coats, and host of other services.

The United Way partner agency has served almost as many clients so far this year as they did in all of 2008.

“We are already at 88% of what we did last year,” said Interfaith Ministries Executive Director Condell Garden. “From January through August of this year, we served 3,576 clients, compared to 4,069 for all of last year, so I expect a significant increase in our numbers. We are turning away about 100 families a month for rent and about 150 families a month for utilities because we’re running out of money.”

The budget at Interfaith Ministries is made up of funding from a variety of sources. Special events accounts for 32%, United Way of Denton County’s annual allocation makes up 18%, followed by 16% from 22 different churches in the Denton community of all different denominations. Foundation grants account for 15%, with TXU and the City of Denton’s P-L-U-S One utility programs combining for 8%, and 12% comes from individual donations and in-kind donations.

“We’re a non-profit first and foremost, but we’re also a business,” Garden said. “We look at all of our budget sources and we budget a certain amount for rent and utilities assistance. Like any other business, we have so much budgeted per month and when we go over that, it’s gone. Sometimes it’s really hard for people to understand when they call on the third of the month and we’ve already helped all the families we can. Because we’re a faith-based organization, some people feel that we’re obligated as Christians to help them when we don’t have the funds available. It’s hard to explain to people that we have a budget that we have to stick to.”

The typical client for Interfaith Ministries has historically been the working poor -- those with low-skilled, low-paying jobs without benefits, according to Garden. But in recent months, the number of middle class families seeking assistance has been on the rise.

“We’re an emergency assistance agency, so people have to have experienced some type of emergency that has affected their income and expenses in order to be eligible to apply for assistance,” said Garden. “We are not set up to help people who are consistently behind. We do require clients to show us proof of their income and expenses and help is really going to those who need it the most. Typically, we help people on a one-time basis for a period of a few months, and get them out of their financial emergency.”

Part of the strain Interfaith Ministries is under, as well as the struggle the people they serve are experiencing, goes hand in hand with the lackluster economy, high rates of unemployment, and limited access to quality healthcare.

“People are tending to have issues in not just one area, but maybe in several areas. They are behind on rent and utilities and have medical issues -- it’s not just one problem -- it’s a whole host of things that are going on in their lives. We are seeing more unemployed people, more people who have been employed for a long time who are now without income. In many cases these people are either older people who are going to have harder time finding a job or people who were at a certain level of pay and are having difficulty finding something at that level.”

Contributions to United Way of Denton County help support the work of Interfaith Ministries and 25 other partner agencies that serve the community. Donations made through workplace campaigns are then allocated directly to the agencies by United Way volunteers. Payroll deduction is just one example of how United Way makes it easy to demonstrate your support of Denton County. Because when you donate to United Way, when you reach out a hand to one, you influence the condition of all.

“We try to stretch things as far as we can,” said Garden. “But there are so many people who need help and things just cost more, so it’s difficult to keep up with the needs.”

Source: United Way of Denton County