Wow - it is July, the first month of our new fiscal year. We are working from a new budget and in light of the financial climate, our Emergency Services program is targeted to provide about the same level of total dollars throughout the year. The change is that it will serve fewer families with a higher level of assistance per family. We're all still getting used to it.

When I came in the door this morning, I learned that we hit our budgeted amount of families for the month in the first two days we did intake applications. That is a high volume of requests for assistance, and our staff and volunteers are obviously efficient. (Hooray for the team that is getting it done effectively and efficiently!) It also means that for the rest of the month, we provide a lot of informal counseling and guidance, but not so much direct financial assistance.

Our board and senior staff have talked a lot about this dynamic. While everyone wants to provide more assistance, finding the additional money needed is our stumbling block.