More than 700 miles from his native Massachusetts, without a job and in need of shelter from the freezing January winds, Scott Fox swallowed his pride and knocked on the door.
The hours posted in the window told him the building had closed for the evening, but with nowhere else to turn, something told him the Nelsonville Community Center was where he needed to be.
Fox’s needs were simple — just a blanket and a place to stay the night — but when Director Rhonda Bentley answered the door, she also answered his prayers.
“When I walked through the door, I felt the presence of God,” Fox said. “God was in the building and in Rhonda.”
Fox humbly accepted a sleeping bag and a few days’ food, returning the next few days to volunteer as payment for the gifts. But Bentley wasn’t done yet.
Within a week, Bentley had found a landlord to offer an apartment to Fox rent-free for a month and helped Fox find employment at the Nelsonville Burger King.
“Without Rhonda, I would have went hungry and probably froze,” Fox said. “What she did for me changed my outlook on life and on people.”
Fox was one of thousands who Bentley has seen walk through the doors of the Nelsonville Community Center in need of food, shelter, clothing or “just a place to be.”
While many other nonprofit organizations focus their efforts on improving a single problem, the Nelsonville Community Center takes a broad approach, attempting to provide as much to as many people as possible.
From food to furniture, Pickerington to Parkersburg, infants to the elderly, Bentley and the center had shown no sign of slowing down in more than a decade of work. Until the end of last year, that is, when funds ran dry.
“We were already behind on bills and just didn’t have enough to continue,” she said. “It seemed like the end.”
About a week before the Dec. 31 closing date, Bentley received an answer to her own prayers.
Pickerington-based Volunteer Energy and the Baird Stuart Foundation donated a combined $45,000 to the center.
“We knew the center was a worthwhile cause,” said Fred Holmes, a director at Volunteer Energy. “It was a privilege to help the center and be a part of it.”
Steve Cox, a trustee of the Baird Stuart Foundation, a local trust that donates to nonprofit organizations, said the donation was a logical choice because of the impact the center has on Southeast Ohio.
“The center is exactly what this little town needs in these tough economic times,” Cox said. “It would have been a major blow to lose it.”
The donations not only allowed Bentley to pay off all the center’s debts but also afforded her a rare look toward the future.
“Before the donations, we were operating day to day,” Bentley said. “Now we are caught up and can finally fix this place up a little.”
Housed in an aging building in the heart of Nelsonville, the center has long needed simple things, such as carpeting and central heat. The new funds allowed Bentley to invest in a new heater and, hopefully, a washing machine and dryer.
Although Bentley is excited about the new appliances, she realizes the improvements require upkeep and utilities costs.
“We always have a need,” Bentley said. “We’ll take anything but used tires — and I’d probably take those too.”
About 600 people come to the Nelsonville Community Center every month to take advantage of the discounted furniture, free clothing, food boxes and the weekly Free Friday Lunch.
As many as 120 people will come to the center on Fridays for a hot meal and camaraderie, Bentley said, including regulars who have attended for years and new faces every week.
Sylvia Doolittle, who has been coming to the center for six years, said Fridays mean not only a hot meal but also a chance to socialize and catch up with friends.
“I don’t know what I would do if (the center) closed,” Doolittle said. “We have nowhere else to go.”
Without Bentley, Doolittle said between bites of vegetable soup, the center would have closed a long time ago.
“She’s too good,” Doolittle said. “I would have given up a long time ago if I was her.”
Asa, Bentley’s son, said the emotional and mental strain of the center is often a worry.
“If you call her at 3 in the morning, nine times out of 10, she will answer,” Asa Bentley said. “She works so hard for so many people. I’m afraid it’s going to kill her.”
But with the help of friends and family, Bentley has been able to keep the center running.
“It’s like a big family reunion,” Bentley said. “Everyone helps everyone else.”
With cuts to government food assistance and a recovering economy, Bentley said the needs of the area — which have always been high — are only increasing.
“We’re getting families that never have had to ask for help before,” she said. “It’s really hard for them.”
Though much of Athens County is struggling economically, Nelsonville doesn’t leap to mind as a poverty-stricken area, said Nick Claussen, spokesman for Athens County Job and Family Services.
“Nelsonville has a lot of good business going for it,” Claussen said. “But people don’t realize how hard it is for many people in the area.”
And that somewhat unknown need creating a constant flow of unfamiliar faces is what keeps the center going, Bentley said.
“I always said, if we stopped seeing new faces, we’d have to rethink what we’re doing,” Bentley said. “But it hasn’t happened yet.”
Though the need never seems to diminish, Bentley said every day has small victories that make the job worthwhile.
“Every time we can provide what someone needs, that’s a success,” she said.
For Bentley’s husband, Doug, the personal interactions with everyone who walks through the center’s doors are the greatest successes.
“Whenever someone is desperately in need, they’ve had to swallow a large chunk of pride to come through the door,” Doug Bentley said. “If you can help that person and restore their dignity and leave their pride intact, then you’ve done something.”
rc348710@ohiou.edu
To contribute to the Nelsonville Community Center, bring or mail donations to: 77 West Washington St., Nelsonville, Ohio 45764, or call 740-331-2526.
