A Social-Service Charity Shares How It Survived a Trial by Fire

By Candie Jones

In March, a fire accidentally sparked by repair work burned down the shelter of New Moms, a charity that provides homeless teenage mothers in Chicago with temporary housing and other services, such as parenting classes, educational development, and career preparation.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the blaze that destroyed New Moms’ home, because all of the charity’s clients were attending a program at another location when the fire started. But the 20 young mothers and their 30 children who the structure had housed were suddenly without a place to live.

The disaster required the charity to take immediate action to secure accommodations for its clients, to protect the group’s public image from becoming damaged by misperceptions about the cause of the fire, and to garner support so it could continue to provide services.

In its hour of need, the charity relied on churches and other local organizations for help. In addition, current supporters helped draw in new donors, which together are helping New Moms recover.

“Relationships were the thing that really helped pull us through,” says Audalee McLoughlin, New Moms’ president, who believes her group’s story holds valuable lessons for other charities about how to prepare for and handle unexpected catastrophe.

With its clients’ whereabouts and safety accounted for, their relocation presented the greatest challenge for New Moms. The local Red Cross offered vouchers to put the displaced mothers and their children up in hotels, a generous but problematic solution, according to Ms. McLoughlin.

“I could see our moms going to a hotel and then not returning to the program,” she says, “and that probably wouldn’t do anything long term except have them homeless again.”

Thanks to Good News Bible Church, located just across the street from New Moms’ razed shelter, the charity’s clients didn’t have to spend any time apart. For two days immediately following the fire, they stayed in the church’s gym, using cots and blankets donated by the Chicago Department of Human Services, before moving into an apartment building owned by the local charity Circle Urban Ministries.

As New Moms’ clients began settling in to their temporary digs the charity’s staff members set about defending the group’s public image. “I feel such a responsibility to help change the public’s perception of these young women,” says Ms. McLoughlin, 48, who was herself a teenage mother. “The thing that came to mind was that people were going believe one of these homeless girls somehow carelessly started the fire.”

To avoid such misunderstandings, Joe Wright, then New Moms’ manager of media relations and now its director of development, wasted no time in making sure that journalists would relay an accurate account of what had occurred.

Pitching In

Although the organization did send out an immediate e-mail message to notify its donors about the fire, it did not solicit their support right away.

“They want to know what’s going on with the organization because they’ve invested their time and money,” says Mr. Wright. “Just telling them what happened — that’s what they get back.”

Two and a half weeks after the fire occurred, the group sent an appeal letter to its donors, providing an update about the charity’s recovery and detailing the story of one pregnant client in particular who, in the days following the disaster, concealed her labor because she wanted to ensure that a room would be ready for her new baby before giving birth. The response to that letter generated a little more than $15,000 to help the group stay afloat, the first $10,000 of which was matched by an anonymous foundation.

Fortunately for New Moms, many of its supporters didn’t wait for an official appeal to be made by the group before pitching in to lend a hand. The Night Ministry, a Chicago charity that serves the city’s homeless population, supplied hygiene kits for the displaced mothers, as well as diapers and juice for their children.

In the days after the fire, members of local churches donated caseloads of products like deodorant, toothpaste, and children’s socks. “There were several days when our moms didn’t have any clothes and couldn’t get into the building to get things out and clean them,” says Ms. McLoughlin. “People did clothing drives. We’ve gotten boxes and bags of brand-new baby clothes, cases of diapers, and cases of formula.”

Former New Moms clients also sent gifts and encouragement, such as money orders and cards filled with pictures of their children, and extended offers to volunteer. In addition, Ms. McLoughlin gave radio interviews, which prompted hundreds of callers to respond by making small financial gifts and giving so many noncash donations that the charity has shared its surplus with other small, local charities.

Other supporters took it upon themselves to rally their own networks to help New Moms recover.

Jaime Christopher, a Chicago mother of two, saw a story about the fire on the local news and immediately sent an e-mail message to the 100 or so mothers who had previously participated in clothing drives organized by Bonnet (Babies of Need Network), a group she created that helps women donate their new and gently used baby items to needy mothers. She also asked the network’s members to spread the word to others who might be able to help.

Since her group had made donations to New Moms in the past, she knew exactly how to find out what it needed.

“I went back to my e-mail list of people who had either donated or expressed interest in donating and said, ‘Look, they just had a fire, here’s the list of things that they’re really in need of,’” says Ms. Christopher. “I didn’t have time to organize an impromptu drive, I just said, ‘If you guys have anything, just drop it off.’ I know a lot of the women just took stuff directly to their office.”

New Supporters

The fact that she had never before heard of New Moms didn’t deter Dawn Hancock, owner of Firebelly Design, a graphic-design firm in Chicago, from taking similar action. Her company, like New Moms’ devastated shelter, is located in the city’s Humboldt Park area. When reports about the fire were on the local news, says Ms. Hancock, “I immediately heard ‘Humboldt Park’ and I thought, ‘Our neighbors.’”

She responded by quickly posting an announcement about the fire on the Web site of her company’s foundation.Ms. Hancock also sent an e-mail message to the more than 1,000 subscribers who receive the foundation’s newsletter. Firebelly’s efforts resulted in a couple of thousand dollars in donations and additional goods given by newsletter subscribers.

Meanwhile, Sheldon Ross, a board member of New Moms, immediately went shopping for emergency supplies after visiting the scene of the fire.

“There were no diapers, no food, no clothing, none of the essentials,” says Mr. Ross, vice president for business development and marketing at Creative Printing Services, in Des Plaines, Ill. “My wife and I went to Target and bought all the necessary products.”

But he didn’t stop there. After discussing the fire with the executive chef at Adobo Grill, one of Mr. Ross’ favorite restaurants in Chicago, the Mexican eatery offered to host a benefit meal. The event raised about $1,000 for New Moms. “People in our faith circles, people in our professional circles, people we go to the gym with, people we’re friends with showed up,” says Mr. Ross. “And more importantly, they were moved to get more involved — that’s the great part of it.”

These new relationships added to the existing ones to strengthen New Moms’ safety net. Says Ms. McLoughlin: “We have received donations from people we didn’t know. One of the high points for me through this whole thing was that I had no way to return all of the phone calls and e-mails from people I’ve just met at meetings, who left me messages and said, ‘We’re heartbroken for you and if there’s anything we can do or if you just need to talk, call me.’”

Lessons Learned

Although there is no predicting when or how disaster may strike, Ms. McLoughlin urges nonprofit leaders to develop “strong relationships with people who are really partners with what you’re doing, and who share your passion.” And, she adds, “make sure that people feel connected with you, and then don’t be afraid to ask” for help.

In addition, Mr. Wright emphasizes the importance of maintaining good relationships with the news media to ensure quick and accurate communication in the midst of disaster.

“Really know who to contact,” says Mr. Wright. And once a charity releases an initial statement to the news media, he says, “follow through with them. You learn in dealing with the media they want answers right away. You can’t say, ‘I’ll get back to you,’ because it looks like you’re going to hide something or cover something up.”

The test of the fire, he says, truly revealed to the charity who its friends are. Six months after the fire, donors seeking to help New Moms’ continued recovery are being invited to volunteer, donate goods, and lend financial support to help offset increased costs.

The charity is paying $15,000 a month to rent the 10 apartments to which its clients have temporarily relocated, an expense not accounted for in the group’s budget, and estimates that it will need $200,000 additionally per year to cover unanticipated expenses until a full recovery has been made.

In September, New Moms hosted a benefit dinner to commemorate its 25th anniversary, an event that garnered about $40,000 in donations. And its former building, which the charity owned outright, was sold. The sale of the damaged facility, combined with the value of the building’s insurance, will result in about $1-million for the group.

The charity has also received a $250,000 matching grant from the Louis R. Lurie Foundation, in San Francisco, to help spur additional donations for its new facility in a location yet to be determined.

“When I walked through the building and it was gutted, there was a sense of sadness,” says Ms. McLoughlin. “But on the other hand, there’s this sense of opportunity.

“We had a strategic goal that we were going to increase awareness about New Moms; never dreamed we’d do it this way,” she says. “I think it has made us a better, stronger organization.”