By Steve Van Kooten

Every day food is put on a plate, a child wears a clean coat and a family gets fresh diapers because people open their hearts and donate to places like the Family Resource Center (FRC).

Now, the FRC's nonprofit arm, Family's Helping Hands, has taken a major step to help grow the FRC and maximize people's donations by starting the Embrace and Empower Endowment through the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque.

"It's a sustainability policy, so we can keep this initiative going for eternity," said Peg Thein, who is the chair of the Endowment Fund Committee. "My donation that I've given is going to work forever. It's not going to be, 'You use it, and it's gone.' When I give $1,000 to the endowment, that's going to work for us."

An endowment can generate income from cash or other investments that earn interest over time. For the center, donations will go further by helping produce more interest income for the services the Resource Center provides to Clayton County residents.

FRC's goal for the endowment fund is to reach $500,000 within two years and $1 million by the four-year mark.

"It's sustainability. Whether it's the food pantry, the hygiene kits for kids, or the back-to-school supplies, it all takes a lot of money," said FRC Coordinator Kari Harbaugh.

In the calendar year of 2025, the Resource Center had more than $62,000 in expenses for the services they provided to the community, which included food rescue, Christmas for Kids and back-to-school items.

The FRC established a permanent food pantry in 2019 in response to the lack of accessible food resources in the county. Since COVID, the pantry's numbers, whether it's food given out or people who come in, have increased.

The center has reported an increase in contacts for all services. In 2025, they reported approximately 6,200 households, with 5,211 (more than 15,000 people) for the food pantry alone.

"That's what we've spent on crisis," she said. "It's cost and everything going on... Having an endowment would allow us to have that security for buying the food or whatever the barriers and needs happen to be at that time."

All of the donations and payouts made to the center are put toward the services they provide to families and members of the community, which is possible in part because the hospital covers FRC's overhead costs, such as renting the building and employee salaries. Donors can still earmark their gifts to specific needs by making a note on their donation or by contacting the FRC staff.

"One-hundred percent of these funds are going to what we tell you it's going for," said Harbaugh. "We don't have any expenses other than your crisis or your food or the other categories we have."

Harbaugh credited Thein, who is an FRC volunteer, and the Endowment Fund Committee for making Embrace and Empower a reality. "Peg spearheaded finding these other volunteers [who were] willing to be part of that committee and really taking it on."

"All of the money [the FRC] receives is donations," said Thein. "It's not from grants or from anything like that. It's from people with kind hearts [who] see what's needed and give that much money, but that may not continue, so we've got to find a way to make sure that money—or a lot of it—can be tapped. We felt an endowment fund is the way to go."

Donating to the endowment also has a benefit for those willing to open their wallets because of the Endow Iowa Tax Credit.

"Anybody [that] donates directly to an endowment right now can get a 25-percent tax credit," said FRC Coordinator Tracy Kregel.

"Which is different than if you gave directly to us or any nonprofit, so that's a big benefit we want people to know about," added Harbaugh.

Endow Iowa has $3.5 million in credits available for 2026, with a maximum credit of $50,000 for each taxpayer, according to the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation.

On May 20, the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque will hold a Great Give Day.

"It's just one big day where they push all of the endowments as a fundraiser," said Kregel. "Anyone that donates that day, it goes to the endowment and it's just a big event across the county for everybody."

According to the Community Foundation, the previous Great Give Day raised more than $630,000 for nonprofits across their service area. This year, they plan to pass $650,000. Over 200 nonprofits will be involved in the fundraiser. Early giving opens on May 1 and can include non-cash donations, such as stock, gifts of grain or IRA rollover charitable contributions.

Contact the Community Foundation at office@dbqfoundation.org or (563) 588-2700.

Donations can be made in person; online at dbqfoundation.org/giving-center/embrace-and-empower-endowment; or by mail at Family Resource Center, P.O. Box 550, 510 S. 1st Street, Guttenberg, IA 52052.

For further information about the Family Resource Center, contact Kari Harbaugh and Tracy Kregel at kari.harbaugh@guttenberghospital.org or (563) 252-3215.

The Family Resource Center is located at S. 510 1st Street, Guttenberg, IA.

For more information on the Embrace and Empower Endowment, contact Peg Thein at pbthein@gmail.com.