You never know when something can throw off your monthly budget.
A family medical emergency, a basement flooding in a big storm, or a car breaking down can all plunge you into debt, even if you’re usually getting by.
Since 2012, the Empire Area Community Emergency Fund has been paying bills for community members each month, offering a lifeline during financial emergencies.
And this month, a new emergency fund based on Empire's model is starting up in Benzonia to serve Benzie County, where one in 10 residents live below the poverty line and longtime residents are increasingly burdened by the cost of living.
Empire's idea
In Empire, the emergency fund is operated by the Empire Area Community Center, and raises a large portion of its money through benefit concerts. The fund started with just $445 raised at their first event.
Twelve years in, they now raise far more than that each month, combining concert donations and individual gifts to the fund. So far this year alone, they’ve distributed over $35,000 to 18 grantees. The money goes directly to paying people’s bills on a one-time basis.
In total, records show they've distributed almost $250,000 to 263 individuals and families since 2012.
“This is not a program to address chronic need,” co-founder Gerry Shiffman explained. “It's situational poverty. We're trying to help them out of a situation and back to sustainability.”
The fund works by nomination only. If you know someone facing bills they can’t pay, you can nominate them.
The emergency fund's directors work with nominees and reach out directly to their landlord, utility company, auto body shop, doctor’s office — whatever bill they’re staring down. The grantees stay 100% anonymous.
Though Shiffman has now passed the torch of running the fund’s day-to-day operations, he used to negotiate down people’s bills himself. He remembers one single mother who got sick suddenly and had no medical insurance. She was nominated to the fund by a friend.
“The doctor’s bills were piling up. Her rent was in arrears, her utility bills were in arrears,” Shiffman recalled. “She was working two jobs. She had been working a third job, but because of her illness, she couldn't do the third one, which was trying to help her catch up.”
After some negotiation by Shiffman, the doctor’s office lowered the cost of her bills until they could be covered entirely through the emergency fund.
The Empire Area Community Emergency Fund serves southwestern Leelanau County and northwestern Benzie County — Empire, Honor, Lake Ann, and Glen Arbor are in their service area.
But after seeing the impact they’ve had in their region, its founders want more communities in northern Michigan to take up similar projects. Shiffman has put together a “how-to” guide for other communities that want to start their own emergency funds.
Bringing the idea to Benzie
A couple of years ago, Shiffman and co-founder Chris Skellenger presented the concept of the emergency fund to the board of the Mills Community House, an event space for nonprofits in Benzie County. As a 501(c)(3), they can host another emergency fund.
The Mills board took them up on the offer. Starting this month, the brand new Benzonia Area Community Emergency Fund will accept nominations for grantees anywhere in Benzie County.
“This isn't a long term solution, but it can help in crisis situations, or help keep things from becoming a crisis situation,” said Kristin Fleetwood, executive director of the Mills Community House.
“The nice thing here is that it directly pays off bills for community members and families in need. And I think there's always needs like that in a community,” she said.
Fleetwood has three concerts planned to raise money for the fund. The first is this Sunday, featuring the band WSN — composed of Skellenger (the co-founder of Empire’s fund), Mary Sue Wilkinson, and Patrick Niemisto.
Skellenger and Shiffman have worked with Fleetwood this year to go through all the steps of starting up an emergency fund, and have put her in touch with musicians in the area willing to donate their time and talent.
30% of the funds raised at this month’s inaugural concert will go to the Mills Community House operating costs, and 70% will go into the emergency fund.
In Empire, there’s a team of volunteers, through the Empire Area Community Center, who organize the concerts — finding musicians and venues to donate time and open stages, sorting through nominations, and working with grantees to get their bills paid. Fleetwood hopes to get a larger team together soon in Benzonia.
“It would be nice to see it big enough to really make an impact around here,” Fleetwood said.
You can catch the first concert benefiting the Benzonia Area Community Emergency Fund on Sunday at 4 p.m. at the Mills Community House.
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