First Call For Help

Common Questions

Who is First Call for Help?

  First Call for Help is a community collaborative emergency service program designed to provide a one-stop center to locate the assistance that a family needs.  Local and state emergency service dollars are partnered with benevolent dollars from local churches, United Way agency services, and corporate giving to meet the crisis needs of our community.

    Who are our clients?

  Our clients are your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, or a stranger.  In today’s economy, with so many families living paycheck to paycheck, a medical need, an accident, lay-off, or other unexpected situation can create a temporary family crisis.  Most of our clients aren’t eligible for on-going monetary assistance from state or federal programs because their need is temporary and their income level is too high under normal circumstances.

  Who do we help?

Every effort is made to assist each person who walks in the door.  Assistance might include information and referral, a food pantry voucher, prescription assistance, bill payment assistance, or just a listening ear.  Often the greatest need is for a referral to counseling services to help develop a plan or a family budget.  Generally speaking, applications for bill-payment assistance are evaluated on the following criteria:   1.  Is the need temporary?   2.  Did the client cause the emergency?   3.  Will the assistance solve the problem?

 How do we judge the success of our program?  

The success of our program can be seen in many ways.   The greatest success of our program is the number of partners working together to create an unduplicated helping hand.  Clients no longer have to shuffle around town to fill out four or five applications for assistance.  Staff time at each of those locations has also been reduced.  An emergency is a very humbling experience for a family.  Our program ensures the dignity of the individual.  Working together we can do so much more.