About 

Modest Needs' hallmark grant is our Self-Sufficiency Grant. We make Self-Sufficiency Grants in an effort to assist individuals and families who, because they are working and live just above the poverty level, are ineligible for most types of conventional social assistance but who, all the same, are living one or two lost paychecks away from the kind of financial catastrophe that eventually leads to homelessness.

We have designed our programs to help those who work hard and have nowhere else to go for assistance, as well as those who give back to our communities and country such as public school teachers, first responders, veterans returning from service abroad and active duty military members. Our aim is to support those who don't generally qualify to receive assistance from conventional agencies so that they don't find themselves losing everything because of a short-term crisis.

Generally, Modest Needs offers Self-Sufficiency Grants to qualified individuals / households who need help to afford two specific types of expenses:

Unexpected or emergency expenses that an individual or family living paycheck-to-paycheck could not possibly afford without a short-term hand-up.

Examples of expenses of this type with which Modest Needs has helped in the past include everything from the cost of medical care not covered by insurance to the cost of repairing or replacing a major appliance to the cost of required work tools or uniforms to the cost of legal fees to complete an adoption to - tragically - the cost of burying a family member that has unexpectedly passed away; and

Monthly bills that an individual or family living paycheck-to-paycheck cannot afford to pay at the time of their application because of a documentable extenuating circumstance that occurred within the past year.

For example, if you were required to take unpaid leave from work because your child was ill and now cannot afford the cost of your auto insurance, or if you were in an auto accident and cannot afford this month's rent or mortgage payment because you had to pay a deductible to repair your car - under these kinds of documentable emergency situations, Modest Needs would consider paying a regular monthly bill on behalf of your household on a one-time basis.