Today we heard from our very own Diane Mahoney, Executive Director of BACN, with an update on their operations and concerns for the future.
BACN is “neighbors serving neighbors” and those neighbors are 60% from Benzie County, 37% from Manistee and 3% from elsewhere. Over 1000+ households with 2800 neighbors are served during 9000 visits with a variety of needs: food, clothing, utility bills, transportation, and more. Over the last 4 years, the number of households, people served, and visits have grown 53%, 56%, and 72% respectively. Emergency financial assistance is up 57% with housing (113%), utilities (56%), and adult education (doubled) leading the way. Blessings in a Backpack has also grown 41% in the last 2 years
BACN services are undergoing rapid expansion but is financially strong due to donation and strong endowment and reserve funds. However, their goal is to strengthen capacity to meet rising service demand.
We live in uncertain times made more uncertain by external factors like shifts in federal funding. Our neighbors are vulnerable, and non-profits like BACN cannot make up the gap alone. Food drives like those we participate in can help.
BACN operates with a small staff (5 FTEs) but is blessed with a very large cadre of volunteers critical to every aspect of their operations. Diane thanked our Club, our Foundation and the many Rotarians who volunteer at BACN to help them remain successful and serve Neighbors. As she said, “We cannot control the chaos, but we can ride the storm.”
It will take Radical Interdependence, but isn’t that what “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” is all about?
We also heard very entertaining new member bios from Paula and Eames Gilmore.