“I was staring at an empty fridge, with two hungry and crying kids…”

Twenty six months ago our lives changed and we adjusted what we did and how we did it as we began to navigate in a world of COVID-19. There were many predictions of the severity and the length of time that we would be impacted with the virus.

I don’t know that anyone could have predicted that the impact would be so devastating and so lasting for families right here in Collin County, but I can tell you that today that for many reasons there is an alarming number of our residents who are facing evictions, enormous rent increases, high utility bills with cut off notices, needing help with job placement and impacted greatly by overall higher costs of living. Families are afraid, desperate and out of resources after months of struggles.

The statement above is from one of ACO’s single moms, who came to us at her most desperate of times. And she’s only one of hundreds of local parents who are struggling. What was once 20 to 40 applications for assistance each month at All Community Outreach is today 200 to 400+ applications per month. We’ve had to adjust how we process these applications and our programs and services to assist the masses.

Thanks to community support with funds and food, ACO has managed to help thousands of residents stay in their homes and feed their families. But like so many local agencies and non-profits, in addition to the economy having an impact on the level of donations and financial gifts we are receiving, we are facing what our nation is referring to as “donor fatigue.”

Again and again we’ve asked you for support to help your neighbors. And, again and again you have been incredibly generous and have shared your resources at whatever level possible. I ask you now, please do not let donor fatigue set in. We need you now as much as ever before.

Everywhere you turn, our communities need your support. Across our world as families struggle to survive and leave their homes, across our state as families face unimaginable tragedies, and right here in your neighborhood and mine, help is critically in short supply. I encourage you to be generous and share what you have. And, I ask you to please do so while keeping in mind the importance of giving where you live.

In the coming weeks your mailboxes will receive a letter from ACO, and a request for your support. As we do each year at this time, our organization reaches out to our neighbors for financial gifts to continue our mission.

That mission has never been more critical in ACO’s history than it is today, as we have hundreds of local families asking for help to prevent hunger and homelessness.

Your support ensures that we help parents protect their children with a roof over their heads and a bed to sleep in each night, nutritious food through the ACO Food Pantry, and the household essentials that we all need available at the ACO Cares Center.

Your support makes it possible for our staff to provide counseling for financial literacy and budgeting, a better education with GED classes and support for higher education, and assistance for better employment opportunities with job search, resume building and interview skills.

Your gifts fund our programs and services to help families across Collin County. Your kindness and care help families like Nan’s. Nan, a single mom of three who has been dependent on the agency for food and more:

“I was desperate. Really desperate.
I was staring at an empty fridge, with two hungry and crying kids
who just wanted some cereal and milk.”

Read more about how ACO changed lives for Nan and her children in the Give Where You Live letter coming soon to your mailbox.

While you and I probably both thought that our lives would return to “normal” by now and our concerns related to COVID and its lasting effects would be behind us…it is not OVER BY NOW! However, the need to support our neighbors is not over either. For more than 35 years ACO has been providing help and hope, thanks to our donors and supporters.

Don’t wait for a letter, GIVE WHERE YOU LIVE TODAY! Visit acocares.org and make a lasting gift to change lives.

I hope that your support never ends, and that you will always continue to join hands with ACO to help each other. GIVE WHERE YOU LIVE! CHANGE LIVES!