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What comes to mind when you think of All Community Outreach? To many, their first thought is that we are a food pantry. And we are! We are one of the largest in Collin County. Last year, more than 1.4 MILLION pounds of food were distributed to local families facing hunger.
But ACO is more than a food pantry. You probably also think of ACO as an agency to provide financial assistance to those families facing homelessness. And we are! ACO receives an average of 20 applications each day from Collin County residents requesting help with their rent and utility bills.
I’d like to think of ACO as being in the “prevention” business. While we are here to help those in a current crisis who are about to lose their homes and who cannot afford to feed their children, ACO is an organization providing hope and a guiding hand to prevent these types of crises.
The ACO Cares Center is a place for families to “shop” each month for essentials. Items donated by the community are available at the center to families who’ve applied for assistance. Families are given an amount of credit to use as currency to purchase everything from laundry detergent and cleaning supplies to diapers and toilet paper, toiletries and clothing, and small appliances and housewares. By “shopping” at the Cares Center with their credit, they save what they would have spent at the store for essentials, giving them extra cash to pay critical bills. In tandem with the ACO Food Pantry, which provides free groceries, a family can save hundreds of dollars each month simply by “shopping” with ACO.
The ACO Learning Academy, made possible by the Kiser-Covington Families with a generous gift, hosted 289 students in 32 seminars and classes last year. By providing classes on budgeting and financial literacy including Financial Peace University, families are able to gain control of their expenses and learn to make the best choices when it comes to spending. The Academy also offers a wide variety of employment support, with software training classes for Microsoft Certification, interview skills and writing resumes, and job search to help those unemployed or underemployed. Life skills and wellness classes are also offered. Last year following a breast health seminar, ten women who had never been checked received free mammograms.
The first 10-week computer skills class was filled with all women. While we expected a mixed class of young stay-at-home mothers wanting to prepare for to enter the workforce, a few seniors and a mix of men and women of all ages who wanted to increase their skill level while currently employed, our first class's overall expectations could not have been more wrong.
Eight “mature” women filled the seats. While they had a mix of skill levels, most had never worked with a computer before or even owned a computer. Facing the need for employment late in life, they all realized the value of this course and shared this with the instructor. All eight women continued to attend every session, and none dropped out of the class. They all progressed at different paces, but they formed a bond and began to support each other in the class.
At the end of the 10-week course, a “graduation” party was planned to celebrate their accomplishments. They proudly talked about how this basic computer class had changed their lives. Many of these women have now gone on to attend additional classes and seminars at the ACO Learning Academy AND find employment with their newfound skills.
While we first address the immediate needs of a family, which is a roof over their heads and food for their children, we then have the programs and services in place to “fix” what was broken that brought them to ACO. Sometimes it’s one emergency that drains their savings to put them in a financial tailspin. At other times it is a simple job loss or years of bad spending habits and bad choices that are compounded to create a crisis.
Yes, we are more than a food pantry, but we depend on community donations to help us first address the hunger so many families are facing. YOUR DONATIONS are critical to ensure that our pantry stays stocked with fresh and healthy choices for those who need it most.
And yes, we provide more than housing support. But first we must provide the financial assistance needed for a family to remain in their home. YOUR DONATIONS are critical to ensure that we have the financial means to provide rent payments and pay utility bills.
What’s just as important is our volunteer support. ACO still is a small organization with less than 50 employees, so we need many volunteers’ extra helping hands to provide the programs and services needed in our community. That means we are very dependent on YOUR DONATIONS of time as volunteers to help us change lives.
So now you know, ACO is more than a food pantry and that you know just how critical YOUR DONATIONS are! I am grateful for all our donors of goods, services, financial gifts and time. I am appreciative of the amazing, generous community that cares about their neighbors and wants to join hands with organizations like ACO to change lives.
One more thing.... I mentioned volunteer support. We cannot change lives without YOU! If you’d like to join others and give a few hours of your time whether it’s once a month, once a week, or a few free days whenever you may have open, please join our amazing team of ACO Volunteers. For more info, visit the ACOcares.org website or contact our Volunteer Manager, Colleen Johnson, at cjohnson@acocares.org.
A funny story to share with you... My son, Marty, is now in college at UTD. One of his clubs on campus was wanting to stock their meeting room with furniture at the beginning of the semester and he suggested to his group that they look at ACO Resale, which he just referred to as “my mom’s store.” In questioning if his mom worked at a furniture store, he went on to explain that I actually worked with a local non-profit that also had a resale store. One of the guys in the group held up his phone and showed him a photo of me. “Is this your mom?” Marty asked him “Ah yeah, why do you have a picture of my mother on your phone???” He said “I get emails from her every month! I volunteer at ACO.”
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