Principles of True Charity

COEUR d'ALENE — Through the rough patches in her life, North Idaho College student Daisy Bontrager has not looked for handouts.

"My pride has kept me from asking for help," she said Tuesday morning.

She said she felt inspired when she went to an event where she was introduced to Maggie Lyons, the founder of Charity Reimagined, an organization that helps people see past their current situations and move toward a future beyond what they dreamed possible for themselves.

"She was saying, 'We want to honor these people and involve them and teach them, not just give them charity,'" Bontrager recounted. "My heart went, ‘This is exactly the kind of work I want to be a part of.’ It’s just amazing."

Bontrager is a work study student at the Center for New Directions, a program that helps single parents, displaced homemakers and others in need with community resources and exploration of career paths. She was among about 60 people from charitable organizations and churches across the community who attended the True Charity Foundations Workshop at the Kroc Center, an all-day training session that provided tools for implementing methods for helping people rise out of poverty.

The workshop covered how organizations can help people without creating dependency, measuring the effectiveness of charitable programs and identifying the true needs of the communities each entity serves. Information was also provided about Charity Tracker, an online case management platform at charitytracker.com that tracks assistance and communicates needs across a network where help and service may be quickly found.

Leading the training was James Whitford, the founder and CEO of the Missouri-based True Charity, a national coalition of churches and nonprofits that serve people in poverty. It aligns with Charity Reimagined's objective to more effectively serve those in need while maximizing the deployment of resources and respecting the dignity of recipients.

Whitford said he was thrilled to see representatives from the Salvation Army, the Center for New Directions, Charity Reimagined and many more working alongside each other in North Idaho.

“There’s a real heart for collaboration, which is so, so important because nonprofits and churches who are helping the poor cannot operate as silos," Whitford said. "They have to operate as a community. That's one of the reasons why the principles of True Charity and the things that Maggie and Charity Reimagined believe in and are championing here in the city are so important.

"It's got to reach the ears and minds of practitioners, policy leaders, philanthropists," he continued. "The whole community needs to adopt compassion that is going to yield real results in people’s lives, really help people out of poverty.”

Bontrager's friend and Center for New Directions colleague Teri White, a social work student, also attended the workshop.

"I’ve been a recipient of Charity Reimagined,” she said.

White shared how she had one vehicle that needed work done. Through Charity Reimagined and Press Christmas for All, a mechanic provided the work for 10% of the cost.

"Which is huge for me," White said. "I'm a single mom with six kids, I’m a widow, going to school. To have them help me in that, it helps me to accomplish what my goals are. It wasn’t just a Band-Aid. It actually was a fix to help me to spring forward."

Info: truecharity.us or charityreimagined.org