Throughout the past year, the COVID-19 pandemic has stressed many people in what they are able to cover financially. In the River Falls and Ellsworth areas, a non-profit has helped people with their financial struggles for more than 12 years: The Assistance and Resource Center Inc. of River Falls.

Local clergy founded ARC of River Falls in 2008. The mission of ARC is to provide shortterm financial support to community members who are struggling to get by in the low-income bracket.

ARC is entirely run by volunteers. The organization has volunteers with professions in accounting, social work, education, and administrative positions. Sharon Schulze, a sixyear volunteer for ARC, talked about the importance of ARC services.

“If you have a short-term financial need that you are faced with, we encourage you to call back and see what we can do. We pay for things such as child care assistance, birth certificates copies, groceries and food, if they are using the food pantry, but still are coming up short and are needing food or have an emergency situation where they can't access the food pantry, that kind of situation is where we can help,” said Schulze.

ARC provides financial assistance to residents in River Falls and Ellsworth who can’t pay their rent, utilities, and transportation needs. In 2020, ARC provided more than $98,467 in financial assistance to more than 200 households in both River Falls and Ellsworth as reported in the ARC 2020 Annual Report.

Some people have the misconception that ARC will fully pay entire bills. This is not the case, as ARC will provide a significant contribution, but will not fully cover said bill. ARC clients still need to make some contribution of their own to the bills or other expenses for which they request help.

“I don't know if people come in expecting or if they call in expecting. I'm sure you know, there are folks who would have made the misconception. However, we will work with them to figure out how best to get that bill paid or to provide what they need. We always encourage the client themselves to have a financial stake. So we asked them to make the contribution that they can figure out and we will help them figure out how to get the rest of the bill paid,” said Schulze.

With pandemic restrictions being lifted throughout the country and many people returning to the workforce or their place of work, one might expect the request for services from ARC to go down. Schulze, however, does not believe this will be the case.

“I don't anticipate that the requests are going to go down,” she said. “It's just a tough time for people. The wealth gap just keeps growing wider and wider. Nothing has been seen in recent years that indicates that there's going to be much closing in that gap. And so the folks that have these short-term needs will probably always need help. So I don't anticipate that there will be a drop in clients asking for help.”

ARC has always had strong support from community donors; this year, ARC will be the recipient of funds from the River Falls Cruisin’ ForACause’s eighth annual summer event. The River Falls motorcycle fundraiser will help bring in more community donations from individual donors and businesses to help ARC grow in its ability to provide financial support.

Cruisin’ For a Cause takes place on July 17, and will begin 9:30 a.m. at theWestWind Supper Club (709 N. Main St., River Falls).

To learn more about ARC or make a donation, visit https://arcriverfalls.org/