Thirty-six hours after Devlyn Brooks asked for help keeping Churches United for the Homeless’s doors open, the Fargo-Moorhead community had contributed some $200,000 to keep the charity afloat through the end of August. As of his appearance before the Moorhead City Council Monday –less than two weeks after he revealed the nonprofit’s dire need – more than $400,000 has been received.
“We’re secure through December now,” he reported to the council, “thanks to our community” and to other regular payments from the Minnesota Department of Housing, the Veterans Administration and several other sources. “But we have another important goal. We must find solutions – another, better funding solution that’s sustainable in the long run.”
Named interim director of the nonprofit on Aug. 12, Brooks stepped into a situation where it could not have covered staff payroll without the immediate generosity of donors. An ordained pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, he was already familiar with Churches United, he said, because he’d been a finalist when the previous director, Rev. Sue Koesterman, was hired eight years ago.
Brooks described current funding of the organization coming from three categories, bringing in about $105,000 per month: donations from private individuals and the local faith community; representing 50% of that amount; state and federal funding and grants, 30% of the total; and foundations and other sources, 20%.
He pointed out that total falls well below the $240,000 the charity needs to continue its operations, a gap of $130,000.
“We’re turning to the cities, counties, businesses and faith communities to help us come up with a sustainable solution,” he told the council. “It will be a critical conversation, given the numbers of homeless men, women and children we feed and shelter every day. Hundreds spend the night in Micah’s Mission. We feed 7,000 every month through the Dorothy Day Emergency Food Pantry.
“If we’re not able to do it, somebody else will have to.”
He added, “Churches United is too big, and too important, to fail. If we do, the community will pay a lot more on the back end.”