03/26/2008

Diakonia Receives Grant From County
By Bob Lassahn

At the March 4 meeting of the Worcester County Commissioners, Diakonia Board President Harry Howe, Vice President/Treasurer Roy Frick and Executive Director Claudia Nagle appeared to inform them that the homeless shelter is facing a crisis regarding their funding and to request $65,000 from the county to continue operating until June 30, 2008. Ms. Nagle attributed the current funding shortage to a shortfall in projected revenues after the shelter received only about $20,000 of a projected $100,000 in monetary contributions.

Commissioner Church noted that staff salaries account for 68 percent of Diakonia's budget and also questioned why they were requesting $65,000 from the county when the actual budget deficit appeared to be about $38,000. Ms. Nagle advised that the Diakonia board has "robbed Peter to pay Paul" in a number of categories to assure the bills are paid and Mr. Frick added that rising costs including power and fuel have all increased significantly.

Commissioner Judy Boggs commented that she needed additional time to evaluate the request and the shelter's financial information in order to make an informed decision. Commissioner Bob Cowger interjected that the shortfall came as no surprise since Diakonia informed the commissioners last year, during county budget deliberations that the facility would likely run out of funds should the county cut their initial request. Mr. Frick confirmed that Diakonia would not be currently before the commissioners if the county had granted their original funding request.

The matter was held over until the next meeting of the commissioners to afford an opportunity to review the request and to assess the current county budget.

At the March 18 meeting the matter was again before the commissioners with Louise Gulyas commenting the commissioners needed to step up and support the shelter in some fashion, praising it as a valuable service. She offered a motion to award Diakonia a one time grant of $30,000 from the county to assist and also offered the suggestion that Ocean City might be approached by Diakonia to match the county grant.

Mr. Cowger and Bud Church both interjected they believed the amount should be closer to the original $65,000 request. Ms. Boggs also recognized the valuable service offered by the facility, but commented the county could "become a victim of our own generosity," expressing the concern that the many other charitable organizations might be appearing to bolster their budgets in the face of decreasing donations.
When the question was called on the $30,000 amount it passed by a 5-2 margin with Mr. Cowger and Mr. Church in opposition, both holding the opinion the amount should be greater.

In a related matter also brought before the commissioners during the meeting the Maryland Department of Human Resources, Community Services Administration submitted a contract for county approval awarding funding for the Homeless Women Crisis Shelter Program covering Fiscal years 2009 - 2011. The award, totaling $73,671 for the three year period, will be paid out in installments of $24,557 per year.  Diakonia will receive funding from the award as a pass through from the county.

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