Help is also needed with distributing Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets to community members, as well as gift purchases posted on Giving Trees and a coat drive that runs through the winter months. CAC offers programs on energy conservation education, confidence building, budgeting, consumer credit counseling and career development, but Allen said the organization would like to build on these. There are a lot of avenues, and there may be staff and faculty who could put on workshops for a group of adults. Mentoring children is especially important, Allen stressed. It can be as simple as offering a child a way to share in one s own family life baking cookies or lending a hand with a woodworking project.
Kids can benefit a lot from that type of interaction and attention.
CAC also has initiated community forums during November to develop ideas and strategies for positive change to address the declining economy in Whitman County and impacts on local communities. A private, nonprofit organization founded in 1988, CAC is one of more than 900 community action agencies established in the United States.