News
DSF was able to provide aid to 9 individuals during the month of February. Outlays during the month included: $5,000 in rent for 6 clients, $1,027.30 for utility expenses for 2 clients, and $1,000 in auto repairs for 1 client, for a total monthly expenditure of $7,027. Rental assistance continues to be the overriding need.
In 2023, DSF assisted 78 individual clients, including 55 with rental assistance.
Kind words from those we've helped...
I just want to thank Dover share fund for helping me pay my car payment and car registration I’m truly and forever grateful to have got the help I needed. Thank you Vickie for working with me. ~ Taylor
I thank you every day in special prayer! You have helped me so very much. I am most grateful for this wonderful DOVER ORIGINAL. ~Audrey
Back at Christmas, I went to the McCrone Farm, as I have for years, to get a tree. My tree was free since all proceeds were benefitting the Share Fund. As a single mom and grandmother raising three children, that gift made a big difference in the stress level of finances that week.Thank you for all you do to help struggling families in the area.
~Deb
The Share program has so helped me many times to survive with dental, heat, insurance, and unexpected expenses... I have truly thanked God many times for providing help though the Share program...
~Dover Share Fund recipient
Dover Share Fund Success Stories
February 2024 - On occasion we come across someone who tackles misfortune head on, determined to succeed in spite of the obstacles confronting them.
That is the case with this month’s profile of a middle-aged man who lost his job due to a severe bout of depression and anxiety, leaving him unable to work and -- with minimal emergency funds -- quickly falling into debt.
He first sought out and received disability payments that covered basic living expenses, but this proved to be nowhere near enough to cover the monthly rent. He next went to Dover Welfare for help and secured monthly rent coverage and a referral to Dover Share Fund, who paid down a portion of his back rent. Again, all helpful, but not enough to keep afloat.
For his third stop he sought out and secured a part time job that accommodated his disabilities and provided the income boost needed to cover his remaining living expenses.
The final step in his self-executed plan was a negotiated payment plan with his landlord to make up the remaining back rent in monthly installments until current.
With a lot of determination and resilience and a little outside help on his side he pushed back on a brief bout of misfortune and is soldiering on.
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January 2024 - This month's profile is not so much about a Dover Share Fund client but rather an example of how Dover Welfare and Strafford County CAP can help a desperate family stay afloat. An elderly woman recently became ill and unable to continue to earn a living while living with and caring for her young adult son, who suffers from mental illness. The son’s illness prevents him from working, from interacting with others, or from leaving his home and from visits with any medical providers.
As the family’s income was driven to zero, they suffered through two weeks with no power as their electricity was shut off due to non-payment, and then through ten days of no heat as the gas company shut off service due to non-payment. Finally, facing eviction due to two months of non-payment of their apartment rent, they reached out for help.
Strafford County Community Action Program (CAP) was able to settle payment with the utility companies to have the power and heat restored. Dover Welfare paid down the current month’s rent, and through the assistance of the Dover Share Fund, arranged for payment of the back rent. They will monitor the situation as this woman awaits the initial social security payments for her son and herself. Once those payments begin, their critical expenses will be covered. Dover Welfare also helped in arranging for food stamps to supplement the groceries they receive from a local food pantry.
So far, they have survived the no heat, no power, no money, no car, no internet, no TV, and very little food aspects of their meager existence. The only thing they don’t lack is hope. Hoping that things will get better, hoping the son finds a way to get the medical attention he needs, and most of all, hoping they can stay afloat and no further bad luck awaits them, as a single stroke could easily sink them into homelessness.
December 2023 - What does one do when Christmas is approaching and just about everything goes wrong? Living on the minimum monthly payout from the Social Security program, dependent on public transportation and on food stamps for subsidence, this woman was just scraping by. Then her apartment was broken into, a TV and an AC unit were stolen, and then a bed bug infestation was discovered. With the apartment no longer inhabitable, she called Dover Welfare for help and secured a new subsidized apartment in Dover. As she moved on, she was forced to leave most of her furniture and other belongings behind. Safely situated in a small one-bedroom apartment, she still found herself without furniture, a bed, or linens, and with Christmas approaching, was forced to curl up on the floor for the night.
The call went out to the Dover Share Fund and their team went into action, securing donations of a bedroom set with all linens, living room furniture, kitchen table set, dinnerware, cookware, and a microwave. All of these items were delivered and set up on Christmas Eve. She is very grateful to have spent Christmas Eve tucked into a new bed and waking to a furnished apartment, feeling a little bit of that Christmas magic she once knew.
To help her start the new year off on the right footing, Dover Share Fund also made an initial payment on her past-due electric bill with Eversource and enrolled her in the New Start Program for low-income residents. Provided she makes the scheduled program payments throughout 2024, her remaining past due balance will be forgiven. With her recent troubles now behind her and a bit of good fortune under her belt, she looks forward to a new year and the promise of better days ahead.
November 2023 - For this month’s profile we take a look back to November 2022 when we profiled a US veteran, homeless and living alone in the woods with no money, no support system, and little hope for the future.
Dover Share fund along with a few other agencies worked together back then to get this veteran enrolled in several support programs and situated in a new apartment. The Dover Share Fund case worker took a personal interest in this veteran and went the extra mile in working with him to transform his new apartment into a welcoming home, helping him purchase necessary furniture and accessories needed for his daily living.
The Dover Share Fund’s charter does not allow for continuous help, so we thought it would interesting to check in on this veteran’s situation one year later to see how his life had progressed. We learned that he is not only well-situated in this same apartment, he now has a full-time job at UNH, and with help from a live-in roommate, has been able to fully cover his monthly rent and other expenses, and with her help has made the space more and more into a home. At this point in time he relies on public transit, but given this man’s determination and grit there will likely be a car in his life not too far down the road.
Along the way he did receive some on-going assistance from the offices of Supportive Services for Veteran Families, but has progressed to a point where that assistance is no longer required. His story provides a good example of the lasting influence the Dover Share Fund can have on a person’s life. Even our “one touch and done” approach shows that sometimes, all it takes is that one touch.
Click here for more of our past successes!