Help Our Neighbors Fund


CFA AC · ANNUAL REPORT 2025
HELP OUR NEIGHBORS FUND
Neighbors helping neighbors through life’s hardest moments.
“The Help Our Neighbors Fund helps trusted nonprofits respond quickly and
responsibly, preventing small challenges from becoming major crises. It is a
strong foundation-led approach that builds a culture of neighbors helping
neighbors and brings new partners and new giving into the network.”
— VINCENT MOULDEN, CFAAC BOARD OF TRUSTEES SECRETARY
How does anyone choose between paying the electric bill and buying groceries
for their family? Paying for daycare or leaving work early? Yet, these are choices
many people have to make on a weekly, if not daily, basis. And sometimes there
seems to be no hope. With rent increases and limited transportation options
in our county, the obstacles can often feel overwhelming. If a car breaks down
and there is no money to repair it, how does the family provider get to work?
And if they can’t work, how do they pay for food, rent, and medical bills? As the
challenges mount, they create a downward spiral effect, quickly pulling families
into financial despair.
What many people don’t realize is how close to the edge so many of their
neighbors already are. A single unexpected expense, a blown tire, a medical
bill, a prescription that insurance won’t cover, can be the difference between
stability and crisis. For families already stretched thin, the options are few and
the window for help is small. And for those same families, a gift of $500 can be
transformative, covering the expense that gets a parent back to work or restores
stability and keeps a family on track.
The Help Our Neighbors Fund distributes grants to local nonprofits that provide
critical, immediate support to Anne Arundel County residents facing urgent
hardship. Created by CFAAC’s Board of Trustees in 2008, this fund helps local
nonprofits assist individuals and families with essential needs such as rent to
prevent eviction, utility payment to avoid service disruption, car repair or gas
assistance for transportation to employment, and access to vital medication
and medical care. Thanks to community support, more than $223,000 has been
distributed through 111 grants since the fund’s inception, helping neighbors stay
housed, regain stability, and move forward with dignity.
Help Our Neighbors grants work in concert with nonprofit partners who
already know the families who need the funds. Faith communities, neighborhood
foundations, homeless prevention centers, food pantries, free clinics, and
grassroots service groups conduct this work across the county. They verify the
need, call the landlord, utility company, or pharmacy, and get the payment there
before the deadline passes. The impact reaches far beyond a paid bill; it’s a job
someone didn’t lose, a child who stayed at her school, a prescription filled, or a
home someone didn’t have to leave. That is what it means to help our neighbors.
$223,400
111
2008
DISTRIBUTED SINCE
2012
GRANTS
AWARDED
FUND
ESTABLISHED
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