Delaware’s People In Need, Inc. has been part of the local community for years with its humble beginnings in 1980 as a food pantry in the Asbury United Methodist Church. For the past 26 years, PIN has been located in a cramped, three-story, 100-year-old home on 274 N. Sandusky St. with Delaware’s need steadily increasing.
     Kevin Crowley, PIN’s executive director since 1997 began his PIN work after serving for 13 years as director of administrative services at the Delaware Children’s Home. He was working with children and families, but as regulations and documentation requirements evolved, Crowley was eventually “cloistered in a little office doing statistical reports and crunching numbers,” which wasn’t what he was about, he said.
     “So I jumped at the chance when an opening came here doing some of the emergency services working with clients,” Crowley said. “And boy, how things have changed.”
     Crowley, currently shaggy-haired and determined to grow his hair out until PIN’s new facility is paid off (which is expected to be three years), sat down with the Gazette this week to talk about PIN, its current capital campaign and the organization’s new facility.
    
     DG: How has PIN evolved from its beginnings as a small food pantry operation in the basement of a local church?
     KC: It was just the church-sponsored little food pantry, and that was basically the focus. Our largest program right now is emergency one-time fill of medications. A lot of the programs we administer now (utilities assistance, medical needs, rent assistance and school supply and shoe program) actually started as grants. The problem with a grant is how will this program continue after the grant fund runs out? Even though they were originally set up with grant funds, people rely on them, and the referrals grow. We handled 708 requests for assistance in 1997, and last year, we did 1,597. 
    
     How has the current economy affected PIN and the need for services?
     We’re seeing more demand for services. It’s stretched us to where we can only fit so many in a day. A lot of the corporate sponsorship and commodities have been cut across the board, which affects our bottom line as well. We depend a lot on the United Way, but if they don’t do as well as they hoped, it affects everybody. People who would donate $20 can now donate $10, or they can’t donate every month. We have more people wanting help and less funds coming in. 
     
     In 2008, $349,030 of direct assistance was provided through medical services and rent and utilities. Where does direct assistance funds come from?
     From the community. We’ve never solicited, had a fundraiser or asked anybody for a dime. The United Way of Delaware County is our largest funder. The rest is grant-funded. 
    
     PIN expects to be fully operational at its new facility located on 138 Johnson Drive by the beginning of 2010. Why are you moving?
     We’re meeting about one-sixth of the need for food in Delaware County, according to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. I want to feed people. No one should go to bed hungry in Delaware County, Ohio. With food, we want to be able to help people one time per month. Once we can elevate to 12 times a year or one time a month for every household, it’s going to give us greater access to Mid-Ohio Food Bank commodities. I can take advantage of bulk buying.
     There’s no handicapped accessibility. We have one half-bath here. With 3,437 families in last year for food and emergency services, that’s a lot of foot traffic in an 100-year old house with one-half bathroom for clients and staff volunteers. It’s just not conducive. It was fine years ago. The growth of the county is going to go far beyond what we are going to do here.
     It’s giving clients the dignity to come into a nice clean place and be treated in a professional manner. With glass doors on my current office, if you’re in tragedy, crying and needing help, just think how unprivate and how undignified that would have to be. We’re double-using every office. Mine is records storage, client interview, my e-mail. It’s everything. It’s hard to give the best to the clients when you can’t give them a safe and comfortable environment that says, ‘Hey, you really do matter.’ 
    
     How many locations were considered for PIN’s future home?
     Seven or eight places. We explored every possibility, even buying a lot and building. We felt that we could give new life to an existing structure that we would be able to expand upon in the future. The place we have on Johnson Drive is on 1.9 acres, and the building was designed to add on. The building had all the green options: green technologies, energy efficiency. I don’t know what the perfect building would be, but this is as close as we could come after an exhaustive two-year search.
    
     Why did you pick an existing building, rather than build?
     It was just one of the green options, something we could recycle and reuse with more high tech green energy: geothermal heating in floor, separate controls for the office and more conducive to food storage. It’s only eight-years-old.
    
     How long do you think the new facility will last?
     I’m hoping for at least the next 28 years. I say 28 years because this is our 28th annual meeting. I’m looking ahead decades. We just want to be poised to address the needs as they come. It’s being a little bit proactive, instead of reacting to whatever new crisis comes up or whatever new need is thrust upon us. From a small food pantry to all the services that we’re now providing, I don’t anticipate evolution to slow down. We just want to be ready to respond in a positive way.
    
     What are your short-term and long-term goals for PIN?
     In short-term, we need to get into the new facility and start operations, so we can start meeting the need that’s not being met right now. We’ve come a long way in the last couple years with a new constitution, bylaws and mission statement. In the long term, I want to be able to solidify and diversify our support base. We’re feeling the pinch harder than anyone. We need a nice stable funding to be able to grow into a place that we can meet whatever challenges come up.
    
     How are the new $560,000 building and renovations being funded?
     We’re currently involved in a capital campaign. It’s in the quiet phase, but going public at the 28th annual meeting May 6 at the new facility. The capital campaign is set up over a three-year pledge period. The Delaware County Bank has given us some short-term financing. We’ve raised enough for a down payment and to get us rolling. Corporate people have stepped up. We hope to retire the mortgage by the end of three-year pledge period.
    
     What will become of PIN’s Sandusky Street location?
     It will be sold to reduce the mortgage on the new building. The public goal is to raise $850,000. We’ve already raised about 32 percent, even before the public phase. This is the chance for the community to invest. It’s the community that owns PIN. That’s why we’re the last one still here and why we’re poised to grow.
    
     What do you see down the road for PIN?
     I think we would be recognized throughout the county as the fulfillment of our mission: Assisting families of Delaware County in a collaborative effort by providing personal emergency assistance with dignity and respect in their time of need. That’s what we’re all about. It’s not inventing new things or being something other than what we are. We’re not duplicating services from any other agency. We’re collaborating with other agencies.
     I think PIN could become a model for other communities. Even when I speak to groups and companies that have multiple service areas, the question that invariably comes up is, ‘How come we don’t have a PIN where we live?’ PIN is not going to be a chain or branch, but we might serve as the model for someone who wants to develop that kind of thing for their own community.
     A lot of people have that affinity for PIN because of its local roots, its local history, this quaint house and how much we’ve always been interactive. We have all these people who come in and help us. I would hate for people to think that it’s going to change and be different. Our core values have never changed. We just need a bigger place to meet what’s out there. We’re still the same staff, and it’s still the same quality of service and care for the people. I’m hopeful the community will come together and make this possible. It’s up to Delaware — the community at large — to make this happen. Let’s take care of our own here, and do it in the right way: the most economical way, the most dignified way.

                                  mmackey@delgazette.com