A Charity Finds Itself in Dire Need

As growth in western Fairfax escalated and the need increased, the organization added paid staff, expanded services and opened a thrift store.

By 2003, it was thriving. Full-time social workers were administering a county-funded program that gave out more than $100,000 in emergency assistance to people facing eviction or a cutoff of utilities. WFCM had hired managers for its food pantry and a Spanish-speaking receptionist to work with the area's increasing number of Hispanics.

That year, almost 3,000 families received bags of food. The group gave coats to elementary schools, cellphones to battered women's programs and almost 1,000 fully stocked back-to-school backpacks to needy kids.

Encouraged by success, the group sought to expand its mission to troubled families. It almost tripled its space by moving into 4,800 square feet of office and retail space in Chantilly. A major initiative was the Residential Assistance Program, a three-year program that offered struggling families thousands of dollars in housing assistance as well as classes in budget counseling, debt reduction, language skills and even marriage.

But hints of financial trouble began to appear. Some grant money dried up, United Way funding fell, and the organization's revenue growth ground to a halt. At the same time, overhead costs escalated: The organization's new offices pushed its rent from $1,000 to $10,000 a month, and expenses rose almost $100,000 from 2004 to 2005.

To cover the deficits, the organization dipped into its cash reserves. Last year, the WFCM board decided to boost income by hiring a full-time director of development to raise private money. But her efforts failed, WFCM leaders said, and within eight months the group faced a deficit of almost $100,000 and a full-blown financial crisis.

Broke, by March of this year, WFCM was behind on rent; its landlord was threatening to begin court proceedings in May.

The organization turned to the county. In a March meeting with Deputy County Executive Verdia L. Haywood, who oversees social services programs, and Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully), the nonprofit group's leaders laid out their situation and asked for help in paying some overhead costs.

"We felt they were a big stakeholder in our operation," said board member Karen Dolan.

The leaders said they told Frey and Haywood that they were in a crisis and faced imminent closure. Frey assured them, they said, that he would bring the matter before the Board of Supervisors as quickly as possible.

Frey and Haywood said they had a different understanding.

"They did not explain clearly enough, we did not listen carefully enough -- I don't know," Frey said. Whatever the miscommunication, he said, "we were on two different levels."