NeighbourLink growing fast
CALGARY, AB—With five paid staff members, 2,000 square feet of office space and 120 member churches providing volunteers, Calgary has the largest NeighbourLink office in the country.
However, they cannot keep up with supply and demand.
"We can't properly resource our churches," says Walter Twiddy, executive director of NeighbourLink Calgary. "We have the financing and the personnel—we just don't have the facility, and we can't accept large donations."
Calgary's skyrocketing economy is attracting people who want a piece of the action, many of whom are immigrants who are working hard to improve their skills and get into the workforce.
"There's a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots. Minimum wage, social assistance and AISH [Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped] hasn't kept up," says Twiddy. "The rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer."
NeighbourLink's purpose is to pool the resources of local churches, linking neighbourhood resources with neighbourhood needs. When someone calls a church looking for help, they are referred to NeighbourLink who can screen and track those people who need assistance. The system helps to weed out those who may just be looking for free handouts.
"Churches are sitting ducks for opportunists. They don't know if they're the seventh church that day to help out the same person," explains Twiddy. "If churches have been burned, they can get pretty thin on grace."
Conceived by World Vision, NeighbourLink's branch in Calgary began operation in 1993 with five or six participating churches, administered by volunteers headquartered in a church basement.
By 1999, there were 30 churches involved, and volunteers were burning out.
"In 1996 we had 118 requests. In 2004 we filled 4,490 requests," Twiddy says, scanning his computer screen. "There are now 10,000 names in our database, and we have 16 churches on our waiting list."
Twiddy, a former entrepreneur in the lumber business and pastor, was hired to take NeighbourLink to the next level.
"They realized they had to make a commitment to sustainability by hiring staff. Volunteers are wonderful, but they can only take you so far."
Jennie Lyzenga of First Christian Reformed Church in the Calgary neighbourhood of Altadore says 30 per cent of their referrals through NeighbourLink are for money for rent and utilities or for rides to appointments.
"Some even want a lift to bingo," she says. "We only supply rides to things we consider necessary."
The remaining 70 per cent of requests are for emergency food hampers.
"The food bank allows only one visit a month, to a maximum of six hampers a year," says Lyzenga. "Or most often it takes three days for the food bank to deliver a food hamper, and these people need food immediately. We can help a little quicker."
Two years ago, a management company offered NeighbourLink a free, three-year lease on the second floor of an inner-city office building. After years of working in cramped basements and spare rooms in old buildings, it was a gift from heaven.
But with baby supplies piling up in the boardroom, toys filling up corners in Twiddy's office and donated food stacked up in the hallway, NeighbourLink can no longer take advantage of their free space.
"Our next move will be to 10,000 square feet," says Twiddy.
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