By Sonja McFarland, founding director of Help Hub
The Help Hub is 10 years old this year. It’s been a decade of compassion, partnership, and community; a decade of showing up for our neighbors, of meeting people where they are, and of witnessing the incredible things that happen when a community comes together.
The Help Hub’s mission is to provide emergency financial assistance and connections to additional resources. We focus on four critical areas: permanent housing, basic utilities, essential transportation, and vital health-related needs.
Rental rates are soaring, and we’re meeting more individuals and families who have never needed assistance before but now find themselves struggling to keep up with monthly bills. In the Wilmington area, wages from jobs in retail, hospitality, nursing assistance, and school or hospital support simply cannot keep pace with the rising cost of living.
While New Hanover County residents feel this most acutely, the strain is spreading into surrounding counties as well. The gap between income and expenses is even wider for single-earner households. Unless you’re living in income-based housing or have a housing voucher, you’re likely paying $1,200 to $1,500 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. When you add rising utility, grocery, and gas prices, it’s easy to understand just how financially tight things have become for many households.
One recent visitor to the Help Hub was a single mom of two who works as a certified nurse’s assistant. She missed two weeks of work when her seven-year-old son broke his leg and required surgery. Two weeks — that’s one entire paycheck gone. But to pile on, her apartment complex had raised the family’s rent by $75 and she had just replaced the brakes on her 10-year-old car. She had never needed to reach out for help before, but she did then, and our volunteer advisor was able to bridge the gap with the last $500 needed to keep her family housed.
Have you ever ridden a city bus to get to work or an appointment? Does your household share one vehicle? Has your car needed repairs in the last year that you couldn’t afford? Do you depend on a coworker, or someone outside your household, for rides to work, school, or the grocery store? Most of us will answer “no.” But for many of our neighbors, the answer is “yes.”
I think we can all agree that reliable transportation is necessary to get around this town.
Back in July, we did a phone intake with a fellow who had no transportation. He receives a monthly disability check and desperately wanted to purchase a scooter so he could get part-time employment. He lives in Leland so has no access to public transportation and he couldn’t afford more than two round trip Uber rides a week.
He and his ex-wife currently share housing because neither of them can afford their own place and at times the environment can be hostile and uncomfortable. He really needed a way to get away from the house, go to the grocery store, seek part time employment etc. After four months of working on it, he and his case manager with First in Families were finally able to secure most of the funds for a new scooter and the Help Hub was happy to pay the difference.
The day he heard the good news he sent us an email: “I want to thank you ladies with all my heart! This is absolutely amazing and will change my life drastically.”
As the Harrelson Center has grown and worked to promote the missions and resources of our partner nonprofits, the Help Hub has become more visible—and significantly busier. We’ve built strong community connections not only with our incredible Harrelson Center partners, but also throughout the wider community.
We frequently collaborate with and receive referrals from social workers at public schools, the hospital and the Department of Social Services. Adult Treatment Court and recovery houses also reach out regularly. The Help Hub is now a primary referral source for Duke Energy, Cape Fear Public Utilities, and for 211 callers in our area. Landlords and apartment complex managers often direct tenants to the Help Hub when they are struggling to pay rent.
When a crisis hits—whether it’s a sudden rent increase, a medical emergency, a job loss, or a car that breaks down at the worst possible moment—the difference between stability and homelessness, between keeping a job or losing it, can come down to just a few hundred dollars. That’s where the Help Hub steps in.
We are not a long-term solution, but we offer a lifeline at the exact moment someone needs it most. A moment that allows them to keep moving forward. We’ve learned that what we provide is about so much more than financial assistance. It’s dignity. It’s breathing room. It’s the chance to regroup, to rebuild, and to believe that your community has not forgotten you.
Our volunteer advisors understand the importance of not just eye-to-eye conversations, but knee-to-knee. Patient and compassionate listening combined with kindness are sometimes all we offer. But sometimes even that supports a neighbor who just needs to be seen and heard.
Collaborating with our nonprofit partners here at the Harrelson Center, we strive to provide access to resources for all manner of needs: from housing stability and essential transportation to unmet healthcare worries and more. Donations, gifts and grants provide for these expenses. What we raise is what we give; the Harrelson Center covers our limited staff and overhead expenses.
After ten years and 25,000 conversations with our neighbors, and as we look ahead to the next decade, my hope is simple: that we continue to show up with the same generosity, humility, and humanity that have guided us this far.