news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Days after getting married, Jenny Hudson and her new husband were both laid off.

Already living check to check, homelessness followed the honeymoon. The couple found themselves without the basics: food and shelter.

Their savings exhausted, Hudson, 39, turned to the Interactive Resource Center for help. The center, which opened in early 2009, provides a place where the homeless can go for resources such as laundry facilities and a job-readiness program.

Hudson’s story is not an unfamiliar one to area nonprofits struggling to keep up with the demand for emergency help.

There are 1,108 homeless people and 839 homeless students living in Guilford County, according to the Homeless Prevention Coalition of Guilford County. At the same time, the county’s unemployment rate hovers at 11 percent. Together they fuel the increasing pleas to nonprofits for help.

And those nonprofits, in turn, are seeking help to keep their operations running.

The North Carolina Center for Nonprofits coaches on the importance of working together to keep services available to people such as Hudson.

“Nonprofits should partner with other nonprofits in order to sustain,” said Trisha Lester, vice president of the center.

The Servant Center, which provides services to homeless veterans and disabled men, was able to expand and introduce new programs by combining resources with other nonprofits. It shares 26 AmeriCorps volunteers with Greensboro Urban Ministry, the IRC, Mary’s House and Youth Focus.

The AmeriCorps volunteers are paid partly by the federal government, helped by the nonprofits. Splitting the cost of workers has been beneficial, said Shanna Reece, executive director of the Servant Center.

“We all would have been in a lot worse shape,” Reece said.

The volunteers allowed the Servant Center to expand its disability services to more people and offer food assistance to immigrants, a new initiative.

The IRC, which registered 1,017 clients its first year, also has expanded, according to Director Liz Seymour. Its job- readiness program assists guests with resumes, cover letters, interviewing skills and business attire for interviews. In 2010, IRC plans to move to a larger location.

Some nonprofits have reached out to local charitable foundations for help. Although such groups as the Weaver Foundation and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro have seen their assets reduced because of the recession, they continue to offer grants, said Donna Newton, director of the Guilford Nonprofit Consortium, which provides assistance to local nonprofits.

“They are helping our local nonprofits to withstand the recession longer than they would have otherwise,” said Newton, who advises nonprofits to diversify and expand their donor pools.

Along with that advice, nonprofits also are looking harder at those who ask for help.

Joseph’s House is a long-term transitional housing program for troubled young men. There are nine beds, and each man is required to stay 18 to 24 months, said Nancy McLean, executive director.

But because of the recession, McLean and her staff have seen men wanting the relief of shelter, but not willing to make the commitment.

“Now we’re seeing more kids looking for a quick in and out,” she said.

Joseph’s House, which saw decreased donations in 2009, declined applicants looking only for temporary shelter.

Within a year of connecting with the IRC, the nonprofit hired the newlywed Hudson to work as a paid AmeriCorps volunteer.

Hudson remains thankful that the nonprofit was able to help her — and wants others to know that there are ways to get help, even as so many people find themselves in need of it.

“Just because you’re homeless doesn’t mean you’re helpless,” Hudson said.