County continues support of Family Resource Center

McCOOK, Neb. — The director of McCook’s Family Resource Center, says she’s amazed by the “unbelievable” generosity of the McCook area, but inflation and other economic conditions are likely to increase demand for the services it provides to local families.

After hearing an annual report from Director Kathy Haas and board member Kari Scheer, Red Willow County commissioners agreed to continue the county’s annual contribution of $6,500 to the FRC.

2021-22 contributions from other area counties included Dundy $3,100; Frontier $4,400; Furnas, $5,500; Hayes $1,200; and Hitchcock $3,500.

The center received a record $13,220 in donations toward its 2021-22 total $55,668 income, Haas said, with another $1,950 from fundraisers, $9,927 from Big Give McCook 2021, $24,200 from counties and $3,371 from a Big Give set-aside from the previous year.

Expenses totaled $49,796, including $11,440 for the director at $11 an hour for 20 hours a week; $14,040 for a program assistant at $10 an hour for 27 hours a week; and $3,744 for periodic clothing exchange staff, eight hours at $9 an hour.

In exchange, the Family Resource Center provides services that often are not available elsewhere to 25-40 families per week, for several thousand service contracts with families each year.

Activities included serving nearly 600 people in the Clothing Exchange program; more than 160 families during four Clothing Giveaways, 170 families with Christmas gifts, free food, baby food and formula to nearly 70 families, toiletries and cleaning supplies to more than 85 families, 24 people with its Assistive Technology resource library, plus many others.

She praised Walmart for its practice of donating unsold seasonal clothing to the FRC, as well as the City of McCook for providing its facility, the old public safety building south of West 5th and B, at no charge. The center does pay $300 a month for utilities, Haas said, but she doubted that covered the actual expense.

The FRC has become a type of clearinghouse for services like child abuse prevention resources (distribute to 500 families), as well as providing 21 families with assistance in dealing with financial hardships from medical situations, funded by the Community Hospital Health Foundation, and providing more than 200 contacts related to referrals to other resources available in our area.

Other services include parenting support for 41 families, school supplies for nearly 100 children, support for 51 foster families, free books to 103 families, miscellaneous assistance (household items, furniture, financial, etc.) to more than 30 families, and co-sponsoring two events that provided supplies for infants and toddlers from 109 families.

“We are committed to establishing financial stability and continuing to provide important services to families in Southwest Nebraska,” according to the annual report. “The board and staff of the Family Resource Center believe that we provide a number of unique, valuable services and that the area could ill afford to lose those services, especially in today’s economic climate, which is still being negatively impacted by COVID-19 as well as the high level of inflation. We anticipate a continuing increase in requests for services and we ask for your assistance in making sure that these services are not lost.

“We are extraordinarily grateful for your present and past support. Without it, we would have been forced to close our doors long ago.”