“It looks like, after the fundraising effort, we’ll have an ending balance of $42,685.53,” the Rev. Craig Blaufuss, of First Congregational United Church of Christ, of Webster City, and chair of Webster City Ministerial Association, which oversees the fund, said.

Webster City’s Ecumenical Human Needs Fund, a 100% locally-funded “charity of last resort” run by 10 of the city’s churches, has finished a fund drive that ensures it will have funds to continue operating in 2025.

“It looks like, after the fundraising effort, we’ll have an ending balance of $42,685.53,” the Rev. Craig Blaufuss, of First Congregational United Church of Christ, of Webster City, and chair of Webster City Ministerial Association, which oversees the fund, said.

Last fall, facing inflated costs for virtually everything it buys for the needy, it was clear the fund would run out of money by the end of the year.

That’s exactly what happened. After paying out $3,601 in December for the basics of life — food, housing, transportation and clothing for the neediest of Webster City’s families — its bank account stood at an all-time low.

It became clear to the ministers and priests who administer the fund that the small private donations, gifts from local foundations, and modest grants from some local churches would no longer sustain the fund.

“We turned to the public for extra support and that’s probably going to be the new normal for us,” Blaufuss said. “We got a few large gifts, a lot of smaller ones, and strong performance from our bell ringers.”

The bell ringers, volunteers from each of the member churches and a few people from the public at large, brought in $5,450.28, which, Blaufuss said, “was more than we’ve ever taken in from a bell-ringing campaign.” He was referring to bell ringing on behalf of The Salvation Army which, in recent years, was staffed by church volunteers.

In her report summarizing the fund-raising effort, long-time volunteer and social worker Sharon Perry described the extensive organization behind the month-long fundraising effort.

“Our ministers determined which weekends individual churches would ring bells. We rang bells beginning on Black Friday and ran through December 22. Each church worked Hy-Vee, Fareway and Bomgaars for one afternoon on a weekend. We had bells being rung on Friday, Saturday and Sundays from 3 to 7 each day. We also had a few volunteers fill in for churches that did not have enough people to ring bells at all three stores.”

Perry added, “We used sandwich boards borrowed from Robin and Tony Streigle. We used the printer that Webster City Chamber of Commerce uses. Ministers organized their own churches as to who would be ringing bells for their church. Some churches delegated church members to take the lead for organizing their turn to ring bells.  The ministers determined if the weather was too bad for our volunteers to ring bells. We only cancelled for one night.

“EHNC (ecumenical human needs council) staff each worked one weekend (three afternoons) to make sure everything went

smoothly. They brought equipment to each store — tables, sandwich boards, money buckets, bells, chairs and handouts to tell what our churches do throughout the year. We had QR codes on the sandwich boards and on handouts for more opportunities for donations. EHNC staff had spouses or family members and friends helping everything go smoothly. After the shifts were done for the day, each of the four staff picked up everything and returned it to a central location for the next time we rang bells.”

The Webster City-based William Morrison Trust contributed $11,000, an especially generous grant. The Trust focuses on child welfare, education, family services, human services and youth, so giving to the Ecumenical Human Needs fund, which it’s done for a number of years, is a good fit with its mission.

“We thank Webster City, and the caring people who live here, for their donations to help our citizens stay safe, as we all struggle to stay warm and maintain our homes,” Perry, who has decades of experience in dealing with the needy of Webster City, said. “People of Webster City, you are amazing!”