Mar 13, 2009 6:15 am US/Mountain
Non-Profit 'Miracles' Help Coloradans
Written by Brooke Wagner
(CBS4)
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A local family gets help at the Jeffco Action Center.
CBS
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Breakfast With Brooke is a weekly interview series with CBS4 Morning News anchor Brooke Wagner that airs on Friday mornings on CBS4. Read about or watch more reports in the Breakfast With Brooke section.
This year, in the throes of the recession, a Jefferson County man finally sought the help of a non-profit agency called the Jeffco Action Center. None of his multiple job interviews were leading to employment.
Together, they decided it was desperately needed dental work that was holding the man back from getting a job. JAC provided funding to fix the man's teeth, and he felt confident and ready for his next interview. He was just hired for a job paying $68,000 a year with benefits.
The man's story is one of thousands weaving a silver lining in hard times. Last summer, Mag Strittmatter noticed more people coming through the doors of Jeffco Action Center, where she is executive director.
"We thought, 'Oh, something's coming. Something's happening,'" Strittmatter said.
She and her staff were right. Since then, JAC has helped 10,000 new users and the recession has deepened. The agency's main goal is to help clients stay in their homes.
"Our agency is a triage point, where poeple come when their lives have hit a crisis. Whether they're facing eviciton, foreclosure, utility shut down...whatever is putting their well being in jeapardy," Strittmatter said.
While many Coloradans wait for weeks to get their food stamps and fill out long paperwork for government benefits, clients who visit JAC walk away with food and clothes the day they arrive.
Under the same roof, they also have access to immediate counseling, job finding services, and medical attention through the clinic next door.
Strittmatter and her team are looking for ways to help every individual, despite the recession.
"These are uncharted waters. We're trying new things to see how we can help others make it through as we try to make it through," said Strittmatter. "We are in this boat, bobbing on the ocean. We're not quite sure where the wind's goint to blow us. We have to be very prepared to adapt to the circumstances."
Enter Community First Foundation and its state-of-the-art website, GivingFirst.org. The site saw a remarkable 300% increase in donations over the holiday season.
Organizers credit the one-stop-shopping appeal, along with a new era of giving and transparency for non-profits. JAC has been one of the agencies to reap the benefits of Community First's online boon.
"The needs are growing and the non-profits are suffering," said Cheryl Haggstrom, Executive Vice President of Community First Foundation. "While we can't fund raise for every organization, we found a way to do that."
GivingFirst.org does it by listing some 250 organizations, all local. Donors can conduct an easy search to decide which non-profits fit the desired profile, then they can read detailed information about exactly what the charity does and how the dollars will be spent.
100% of donations go to the organizations, since Community First picks up the tab for credit card fees. The site also offers gift cards for those who want to take part in the growing trend of giving in another person's name.
"When people say times are tough, the silver lining is people are giving. They're giving back," Haggstrom said. "the foundation is actually taking the responsibility to validate and to keep it updated and that's very important to donors."
The website's motto is "Give where you live." The idea is to help those in our own backyard, which
Strittmatter said creates a ripple effect that makes the community as a whole stronger.
"It's all about helping out our neighbors, because in truth, people walking through the front door, they could be our neighbors. They could be us. I'm so grateful to Community First Foundation for being so forward thinking in how to help non-profits help themsevles," Strittmatter said.
And that helps Coloradoans help themselves with dignity and self-sufficiency.
"Imagine, you're trying to go to a job interview, but you have no shampoo or soap to shower with, so you can give your best appearance," said Strittmatter.
JAC wastes nothing in this quest. As Strittmatter likes to say, the agency was green before it was hip. Volunteers even clean and recycle donated pill bottles to be used for toiletries. Anything that can't be used by clients goes to a warehouse for the "Beautiful Junk" sale, which brings in tens of thousands of dollars.
For such tough times, the mood is surprisingly upbeat in a place where many lives are being pieced back together. Jeffco Action Center is seeing more middle class families than ever before. Most of those helped are children.
Strittmatter says the jobs are there, but it takes tenacity and help to find and win them over the competition. Seventy volunteers come in each day to help make those dreams come true for their neighbors - and it's working.
"It's encouraging. It's very encouraging," Strittmatter said. "We see the successes. We see miracles here every day."
(© MMX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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