Mark Millican
Dalton Daily Citizen
DALTON —
Sheila Brooks was “laid off” from work in 1991 near the end of her pregnancy. Unfortunately, it happened near Christmas time.
“I didn’t have enough money to buy Christmas presents,” she recalled on Good Friday. “Someone told me about Santa’s Holiday House, which was run by a United Way agency, that was set up like a store where you could get three toys per child for $1 to $3.”
Brooks said she still has one of the toys she picked out for her then infant daughter, Samantha Wilson — a wind-up radio that plays nursery rhymes.
“After the holidays things got better,” she said. “I saw how the program worked and got interested. I went back to the Volunteer Action Center and asked, ‘Have you got anything you want me to do? I have skills, I can read and write and type.’”
Brooks said she went at first to volunteer during the Christmas season, and found her “favorite thing to do” was going into the toy room and praying, “Lord, show what ‘little Emily’ or some other child wants this Christmas.”
Now she and her daughter, who is 19, answer the phones at the United Way of Northwest Georgia office at 816 S. Thornton Ave., greet customers and help clients fill out applications.
“My mother raised me to help people who needed help,” said Brooks. “If you care about the community you live in, you should do something to help the community. I had a call last week from a young mother with a brain tumor and a 6-month-old baby. She was living with a church family, and we worked diligently to help her find help.”
Wilson said volunteering at United Way makes her “feel good to help out.”
“I like to help people and reassure them,” she said.
Michelle Smith, director of information and referrals at United Way, said the agency “couldn’t do without” their volunteers.
“We are very busy, and calls are more difficult because they take more time and our resources are limited,” she said. “We’re trying to steer people toward other resources for food, utilities and rent.”
Some of hose resources include the Salvation Army, Red Cross in Whitfield and Murray counties, Dalton Organization of Churches-Uplifting People (DOC-UP), Community Action Agency and Angels at Heart, a Chatsworth-based ministry that helps with rent and utilities bills, emergency shelter and medical services.
Smith said that due to heavy job losses in the Whitfield-Murray area, calls to the 2-1-1 assistance line have centered on food and shelter.
“Food is our top request right now, and we’ve had a small increase in requests for emergency shelters,” she said. “We’re getting 500 to 700 calls a month, and sometimes it’s more.”
Smith said the busiest months for calls are the second half of the year, July through December.
“When the heat hits, cooling costs start to go up, and people need clothes and dental care for their children when school starts back,” she explained. “Then you go right into the holidays. People are really struggling now to make ends meet.”
Amy Grammer, marketing and technology director, said many area residents will wait before seeking help.
“People will wait as long as they can to make that call,” she said. “When all other things fail, then they’ll make the call.”
Smith said that is due to work ethic.
“People have always worked here, and they don’t know how to make that call,” she said. “We’ve had people come in who’ve been making $40,000 to $50,000 a year — even people making six-figure salaries — and lost their jobs and come to the end of their savings. We’ve had a couple of people come through in the last two months who were making six-figure salaries, and they’ve gone on food stamps and are about to lose their houses.”
Grammer said the agency is seeing many cases where people have been laid off, or had their hours cut, and still owe multi-year mortgages on their homes.
“We try to hook them up with the Dalton-Whitfield Community Development Corporation, which is a mortgage resource that also offers housing counseling,” she said.
Grammer said United Way just wrapped up their annual fundraising campaign with $2.95 million garnered. It was what they hoped for, but took two months longer to get to that level.
“Not that it meets our need, but it’s a good attempt to meet it,” she said.
Smith noted that clients are getting “frustrated” with some area agencies.
“The agencies are running out of money,” she said, “but we’re still dealing with a lot of requests. State and federal moneys have also been cut back, so we’re working with less money but more clients.”
Volunteers ‘make a difference’
Roy Johnson of Providence Ministries said volunteers “make a difference.”
“We couldn’t do everything we do without volunteers,” he said. “Our society is enriched by people giving of themselves, and serving others also becomes important in those volunteers’ lives.”
Providence will serve an Easter meal today, Johnson said, but their biggest days are Thanksgiving and Christmas, the latter where 5,000 people attended last year and the “toy line” was open for seven-and-a-half hours.
“We have ladies who come and help sort clothes at the thrift store, and a man who drives for us and has become an ‘accountability partner’ to some of the men (in rehab or the homeless ministry),” Johnson said of the activity at the 711 S. Hamilton St. outreach location. “We have groups, churches and individuals who help serve meals, help with kitchen clean up, wash windows and wash our vehicles. They make a difference in this ministry and we are very, very thankful to them and for them.”
Providence opened a homeless shelter for women recently, and just purchased a warehouse a couple of blocks away on Oxford St. to expand their transitional housing services for men in the drug and alcohol recovery program. They also operate boys homes in Rocky Face and Tunnel Hill.
“I like to say, the best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in service to others,” Johnson said.
Ronnie Powell volunteers as a full-time chaplain at Harvest Outreach on 207 E. Morris St., and said he “really enjoys” his role there. Aside from setting up Bible studies, singings and small-group church services at the storefront mission, he also helps coordinate community service workers sent from the probation office.
“One of the workers came to me and shared that he and his wife were having problems and had separated,” he said. “We’ve been praying for him for two or three weeks, and he came back the other day and told me he and his wife were getting back together, that his wife had been ‘watching his life’ and seen a change since he’s been coming here. He said, ‘Since you and (director) Shelia Reed’s prayers, things have gotten better and I’ve been able to get a job.’
“I believe God has put people here as volunteers and community service workers. They feel safe and secure here. It’s a friendly, joyful atmosphere and we work together well as a team.”
Volunteer Jeff Miller said, “I was led by the Spirit to come here (at Harvest Outreach).”
“I asked them if they could use some help, and they said, ‘Brother, jump right in here.’” he shared. “I’ve had a lot of peace come upon me since I’ve been volunteering here.”
How to volunteer
The following is a partial list of area agencies and their needs:
United Way of Northwest Georgia
816 S. Thornton Ave.
Dalton, GA 30720-9300
(706) 278-9230
www.ourunitedway.org
(Volunteers, funds)
Whitfield County Red Cross
517 Benjamin Way
Suite 400
Dalton, GA 30722-0357
(706) 278-5144
www.daltonredcross.com
(Volunteers, food, funds)
Salvation Army
1101 N. Thornton Ave.
Dalton, GA 30720-3608
(706) 226-1433
www.salvationarmy.org
(Volunteers, food, funds)
Dalton Organization of Churches United for People (DOC-UP)
511 Valley Drive
Dalton, GA 30720-8106
(Volunteers, funds)
Murray County Red Cross
211 W. Fort St.
Chatsworth, GA 30705
(706) 695-7605
www.murrayredcross.com
(Volunteers, funds)
Providence Ministries
711 S. Hamilton St.
Dalton, GA 30720-8257
(706) 275-0268
www.providenceministriesinc.com
(Volunteers, food, funds)
Harvest Outreach
207 E. Morris St.
Dalton, GA 30720-3304
(706) 226-7995
www.harvestoutreachcenter.com
(Volunteers, food, funds)
