Welcome to Eblen-Kimmel Charitable Group
EBLEN-KIMMEL CHARITIES SEES RECORD NUMBERS FOR ASSISTANCE
November Sees More than 3,000 Families Assisted in Busiest Month To Date
It was the first time that they ever had to ask for help. Up until now they had been able to provide for themselves and their two small children. But the tides of fortune quickly changed as the economy took their jobs and now threatened to take their home and leave them in the cold.
Far from giving up, this courageous young couple found their way to the door of the Eblen-Kimmel Charities to find the help the needed to keep their home and to keep their family warm as the temperatures begin to drop.
Nothing was more important than finding the help they so desperately needed so they arrived at our office at 9:00 Sunday night to make sure that they would be one of the first families to find the assistance they sought. So they stretched out an old blanket and coved themselves with two thread-bare quilts and huddled against the night with below freezing temperatures.
As temperatures begin to drop and the economy continues to struggle to find its way we are seeing the largest increase in families seeking Eblen-Kimmel’s assistance in our 18 years of serving those in need in our community. November of last year saw us assisting 1,900 families and this November 3,000 families, more than a 60% increase from last year.
"In just one month we have set a course for heating, housing, and other assistance that has been unprecedented in our history. Whether people are suffering from the cold or afraid that they will not have the means to buy oil or pay their electric or gas bills, remain in their home, buy food, medicine, or other necessities, we don’t have the luxury to just sit back and ask "what are we going to do?" We have a responsibility to our community to act quickly and reach out to our neighbors in their times of need," states Bill Murdock, executive director of the Eblen-Kimmel Charities. "We have seen families arrive as early as 1:30 in the morning before but we haven’t seen them sleeping on the cold concrete through the night as we have this month. Many mornings we are here as early as five or five-thirty in the morning to open the doors so our clients can have a warm place to wait and coffee and hot chocolate to fight off the chill."
A great thanks to our staff and volunteers who have worked tirelessly this last month in seeing each client with kindness in making sure they are taken are of, and to Buncombe County Department of Social Services for their valued friendship and partnership in serving those in need in our community.
If you are in need of assistance, please contact the Eblen-Kimmel Charities at 828-255-3066 or if you would like to join Eblen-Kimmel and DSS in helping keep local families warm this winter, or for more information, please contact the Eblen-Kimmel Charities at 828-255-3066 or Bill Murdock at 828-255-3066.
