With more than 15% of Monroe County residents living in poverty and struggling to maintain housing, food and necessities, the Tomah Health Community Foundation is looking to help lower those numbers.
Members of the foundation donated $2,500 to Families First of Monroe County Wednesday for its Furniture and Household Goods Program that provides essential furniture and household items to families who have secured housing but lack the basic necessities to create a safe and functional living environment.
Families First health worker / case manager Stephanie Aguilar said the donation is vital to the Tomah organization. “We’re going to use it to help the families that we’re able to help house to buy home goods for their basic necessities that they might need for when you first move into a house,” explained Aguilar. She said the lack of basic household items creates immediate health and safety concerns, particularly for families with children.
The donation comes after the organization’s funding from the Division of Energy, Housing and Community Resources (DECHR) was drastically cut from $30,000 to $15,000. “If it wasn’t for foundations like this, we wouldn’t still have our doors open,” said Aguilar. “We wouldn’t be able to help the clients that are coming in every single day or that are calling needing assistance.”
Foundation vice-present Jeremy Haldeman said financial support fits the mission of the organization to assist groups that address the health and wellness of residents throughout Monroe County. “It’s our initiative and it’s our drive and our mission. We’ve been really analyzing that recently and this is just another case where we get to help impact the local community and drive initiatives that support the community in healthcare needs,” said Haldeman.
Families First of Monroe County was created in 1994 and provides critical services to 20,000 people each year, making it one of the largest emergency assistance programs in Wisconsin. “We made sure that electricity stayed on for people. We made sure that their water didn’t get disconnected. We made sure that they got assistance getting into finding housing where they’ve been staying in their car for a year,” explained Aguilar. “We are the only agency in Tomah that does that. There is no one else.”
Aguilar said residents in need of assistance can contact their Tomah office at 1500 North Superior Avenue, Suite 2 at (608) 608-374-4141.