SPRINGDALE -- United Way's 2-1-1 Helpline provides a direct link between people who need help and people who can give help with taxes, housing, food, utility services, health care and more.
The service operates 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The local call center serves residents of Benton, Carroll, Madison and Washington counties.
The United Way of Northwest Arkansas announced in December the service would be discontinued because of lack of money. But the Helpline is operating and helping clients today. In fact, the service never went offline.
The local United Way board decided to continue the service because it felt it was important, said Jackson Braswell, communications and volunteer center manager.
"We understand the system fills needs that are in high demand," said Betsy Smyth, a member of the board. "We didn't want to let the citizens of Northwest Arkansas down."
The United Way received some short-term money to keep the service going, and opportunities for long-term money seem positive, Braswell said.
Totals from the United Way's fall fundraising campaign haven't been finalized, said Melody Timinsky, vice president of community impact for the United Way of Northwest Arkansas.
The organization's fundraising totals have shrunk in the last 10 years from a peak of $4.6 million in 2008 and 2009. The group raised $1.8 million in 2017, Kimberly Aaron, a former United Way president, said in December.
Operating the Helpline costs between $110,000 and $120,000 annually, Aaron said.
The biggest expense is a contract with a call center in Florida to answer the calls, and the staff is reviewing the contract, Timinsky said. She added United Way staff and Americorps volunteers worked to build the database of providers and to keep it current.
Each United Way Helpline manages its own operations, including contracting to another 2-1-1 for after-hours or other support, said Rachel Krausman, the United Way Worldwide's senior director of 2-1-1.
"The United Way of Northwest Arkansas maintains the hyper-local information about services and resources that residents can access for help and does the critical work of promotion, partnership and outreach in the community. It might just be more cost-effective for their model to engage a larger 2-1-1 in answering calls than to manage a local call center for a small population."
About 200 Helplines operate throughout the nation, Krausman said. She noted a few cases in which a service's organizers merged with other Helplines or found alternative ways to share resources.
"Of course, the more funds a 2-1-1 is able to access, the more people it can serve in a community," Krausman said.
She didn't respond to a question about the United Way Worldwide's overall fundraising efforts.
Northwest Arkansas' Helpline staff recorded contact with more than 14,000 people in 2018 and filled 22,698 requests, said Carlos Garbutt, local community impact director for the United Way.
Callers asked mostly for utility, housing and food assistance, and those top three requests came from 70 percent of the callers, he said. Krausman confirmed the same are top issues across the country.
"It's hard any time of year, but we know in the colder months there are people who need extra assistance getting out of the cold," Smyth said.
"Providing services 24/7/365 is a critical part of 2-1-1," Krausman said. "People experience crises and need help at inconvenient times as much as during the work day, so we need to be available whenever they need us."
Helpline calls nationwide for housing, food and utilities payment assistance are most often met during the day, she continued. But the network also receives hundreds of thousands of calls at all hours from people contemplating suicide, facing domestic violence or emotional distress.
Josh Bland, a ministry director for First United Methodist Church in Springdale, said the church's community ministries mostly operate in-house. The church serves a free hot lunch Wednesday through its Daily Bread ministry and gives away groceries through its Bread of Life Food Pantry. The church website lists several other community partnerships.
The 2-1-1 Helpline is included as part of a larger packet of information given to clients, Bland said.
"We talked about it as a team when they announced they were closing," he said. "We were thrilled when we heard they were staying open and reorganizing.
"There's a lot of need in this community, and a lot of hurt," he continued. "It's nice to have a resource to refer them to other resources in the community that can help beyond what we can do. The more we partner together, the greater impact we can have on our neighbors."
Helpline
• Dial 2-1-1
• Or call (888) 489-6983
• Access arkansas211.org to search, chat or text
SOURCE: United Way of Washington County
NW News on 02/16/2019