TOLEDO—The Family Emergency Guidance program of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Toledo has been awarded a grant of $10,000 from the Toledo Community Foundation through the Fran and Dick Anderson Community Support Fund.

The funds are to provide operations support for the program, which provides emergency assistance to area families.

Rodney Schuster

The need for services through the Family Emergency Guidance program has increased dramatically since 2008. Between January 2008 and December 2009, the number of requests for assistance has more than tripled. While requests for assistance began to level off in early 2010, the number of families seeking assistance remains significantly higher than before 2008.

“In order for us to continue to be able to address this prolonged, high level of need for assistance in our community, we need support now more than ever,” says Rodney Schuster, executive director of Catholic Charities. “The support that we receive from local foundations to help us prevent homelessness and offer families real solutions is greatly appreciated and has a positive impact on so many families and our community.”

The goal of the Family Emergency Guidance program is to prevent families from homelessness by providing emergency rental assistance and household financial management training and counseling to participants so they can achieve housing stability and be better prepared for financial emergencies. This approach to providing assistance and preventing homelessness has proven effective as nearly 90 percent of the more than 500 families who received assistance through this program since 2003 have remained housed.