Inter-Faith Council continues to grow

This has been a year of growth and change for the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, a local organization that aims to reduce homelessness, hunger and economic disparity in the community.

At the IFC’s annual meeting Thursday night, Executive Director John Dorward said the organization continues to serve members of the community who come to them for help through their food pantry, community kitchen and Crisis Intervention Program.

He said more than 4,100 households in Chapel Hill were eligible for access to the food pantry, which provides groceries to low-income families.

The community kitchen served 82,000 meals in 2012, which was an increase of roughly 5,000 meals from 2011.

“Hundreds of volunteers are picking up food and feeding a lot of people,” Dorward said.

The IFC also finished testing on a database for the Crisis Intervention Program, which provides services that protect families from becoming homeless.

Dorward said a dozen different church congregations have access to the database to keep track of those families.

“Overall, we got a lot of good work done,” he said.

Over the past year, the IFC has also grown closer to reaching its goal of raising $5.76 million to fund the building of a new community house. The new building will support the IFC’s transitional housing program, which helps homeless people get back on their feet.

The program currently operates out of a building at 100 W. Rosemary St. and only serves men. The new building is expected to open in 2015 and will help men and women.

Gordon Merklein, the campaign co-chair for the community house, delivered financial details about their fundraising goals. He said the IFC is $1.44 million away from its goal.

The IFC received two $100,000 donations Thursday morning, Merklein said. He said he was thankful for the support of local congregations that have donated a total of $700,000.

“The congregations have provided so much support,” Merklein said.

As part of the event, the IFC presented the Mildred Berkeley Community Service Award to Irene Briggaman, who founded RSVVP — an annual event in which participating restaurants donate ten percent of their proceeds to the food pantry and community kitchen.

Briggaman said the event will celebrate its 25th year on Nov. 12.

To conclude the meeting, Rebecca McCulloh, president of the IFC’s Board of Directors, honored volunteers who have given anywhere from one to 20 years of service to the IFC.