wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina |Family shelter halfway toward $100,000 goal

By Taylor Kearns - bio | email

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - The Columbia Family Shelter gives shelter to families on hard times, but now need help themselves. They need to raise $100,000 by the end of the year to avoid a cutback in services.

You won't find many empty rooms at the Family Shelter off Two Notch Road. The demand for the unique facility has been through the roof. "We're really the only place that serves entire families," said Director Jon Artz.

Artz says last year they had to turn away almost 1,000 families, and this year is on the same track. They can house up to 15 family units, providing career coaching and computers for job hunting -- services he says are needed now more than ever as more families come to the realization that they have no place left to turn.

"People who never imagined being homeless, homeowners people who've rented for years never missed a payment, now they're feeling the crunch," said Artz. "Their friends and family can't help them anymore; everyone's suffering."

The center has managed to raise more than half of a $100,000 goal, money they need by the end of the year to avoid cutbacks and put themselves in a position to meet what could be another tough year in 2012. "It's not just the donations which are hard because everybody's struggling, but the grants, federal and state, are getting cut so we're really getting squeezed from both sides," said Artz.
     
Artz is hoping to breathe a little easier come the new year.

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Family homeless shelter needs $100,000 in order to maintain care

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