Because we feel it is important that you know how and where your donations to Helping Hands are spent, here is what was done last week:

Well, it is finally happening. The end is in sight. No, it is not the end of the pandemic, the depressed oil economy or the resulting loss of jobs. What we are seeing is the end of our money. While you have all been so extremely generous to us in the past we currently have only a few weeks of money left before we will have to severely curtail the assistance we can give to those in need. And while it is never a good time to be out of money to help the needy this is a critically bad time since there are so many people who have lost their jobs or have had their hours cut back to a point where they can no longer afford to pay their rent. And while the vast majority of local landlords have stepped up to the plate and worked with these people by not charging late fees and holding off on evictions for as long as they can, they eventually reach a point where they need to get their money. Unemployment for those who qualify is still slow in coming (and again, understandable when one accounts for the vast number of people state- and nationwide applying for benefits right now).

Presently we have enough money to continue with assistance at our current level for about three more weeks. At that time we may be forced to reduce the amount we can spend. Our thrift store, while open two days each week, is only bringing in $7,000 – $8,000/week right now. The churches that have supported us in the past have obviously still not reopened to full capacity and so their donations to us are down as well.

In the next few weeks we will be reaching out again to those people and foundations that supported us so generously a few months ago to see if they would again be able and willing to help us out again. We do not see the situation in Midland ending anytime soon and we are desperate to try to help keep as many of our neighbors afloat as we can. We hope that you, too can continue to help us in our mission!