Brian White was at Rogers Elementary School in Frisco when two people walked up to him.
White, who serves as development director with Frisco Family Services, was at the Frisco school tending to a booth for the nonprofit organization. One woman told him how much Frisco Family Services had helped her family after her husband had a stroke. Another told him that the reason she was in her current career field was because of Frisco Family Services — when she was 10 years old, she said, her mom was diagnosed with Leukemia and Frisco Family Services had helped her family.
“When you hear those stories, it really gets to you, and it puts a face on that,” White said. “When you hear those stories, those aren’t just statistics. Those are people affected by it.”
Frisco Family Services is a nonprofit that helps people in the community going through crisis like unemployment, medical difficulties and divorce. This month, the organization is gearing up to host the 2023 iteration of its GalaONE event at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 25 at the National Soccer Hall of Fame. The event is a chance to thank sponsors and volunteers for its support, but it’s also the largest fundraising source for the nonprofit.
Why is that important?
“Because our numbers are up. Our client caseload is increasing,” White said.
Over the past fiscal year, the nonprofit served 4,100 individuals, an increase from 3,300 individuals the prior year, White said. In addition, the organization served 730,000 meals and provided $1.9 million in annual program support.
The organization is currently seeing a 20% increase in those seeking food assistance through the nonprofit’s market compared to last year at the same time, and there has been a 54% increase in the total number of clients served by Frisco Family Services when comparing February 2022 and February 2023.
“We’re still having lingering effects from COVID where people may be possibly unemployed, where they may be underemployed or they may have some health concerns dealing with those lingering effects of COVID,” White said. “But really right now, what we’re seeing is compounded by the fact of inflation, with the price of groceries skyrocketing, and the price of utilities, rent and mortgages going way up. So our emergency financial assistance for our program for our clients is going up.”
The organization’s services include emergency financial assistance to Frisco or Frisco ISD residents for home payments, utilities, prescription costs and other critical needs.
“Behind every door, you never know what people are going through,” White said, “and we’re seeing that quite a bit. And in many cases, we’ve heard the stories that this is the first time people have needed assistance.”
Proceeds from the March 25 gala will directly impact the nonprofit mission. The event will include live music, a raffle and auction. More information is available at FriscoFamilyServices.org/Gala.
“We consider this a celebration of people coming together and showing support for our neighbors and really coming together as a community,” White said.
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Audrey Henvey is the reporter for the Frisco Enterprise, McKinney Courier-Gazette and Celina Record. Email her with story suggestions at ahenvey@starlocalmedia.com.
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