Retired securities brokers Dorothy Lyas wanted to help but didn’t know how. The Neighbors in Need Fund gave her a concrete way to support a range of groups that she can trust.

Like many of us, Dorothy Lyas was aware of the impact of the recession on local families. She had read in the newspaper about elderly residents facing foreclosures, seen TV interviews with mothers struggling to feed their children and listened to talk radio shows devoted to the economic crisis.

Yet, like many, she felt paralyzed by the enormity of the problem which seemed, in her words “simply overwhelming.” Not only that, but she felt constantly bombarded by solicitations from organizations seeking contributions. “I wanted to help but I didn’t know how or where to give in the most effective way,” says the retired securities broker.

It was Lyas’s financial adviser who first introduced her to The Community Foundation which has been helping its neighbors in need for more than 35 years.

More than anything, she was attracted to the Foundation’s response to the current economic crisis. Last fall, she contributed $10,000 to its Neighbors in Need Fund which has grown to more than $3 million in less than a year. “This was the concrete step I was looking for,” she says adding that she likes the fact that the Foundation’s fund supports many different safety net organizations in the District, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and Northern Virginia. (To date, the Foundation has provided $1.9 million in grants to 70 organizations.)

Lyas recognizes that the community needs to brace itself for another hard year or two, and plans to continue to contribute annually to Neighbors in Need. “We’re all in this together,” says the 62-year-old retiree who volunteers at several area nursing homes. “We need look no further than our neighborhoods to see how great the need is.”