A local organization is attempting to extend a helping hand to some families affected by the state budget stalemate.

The Nehemiah Project, a nonprofit, faith-based group spearheaded by Pleasant Valley Assembly of God, created a Foster Family Fund to help families - like the Albrights of Claysburg - through loans and gifts.

Carol and Dennis Albright, who are both retired and collect Social Security, have four foster children between the ages of 7 and 14, and two grandchildren, who depend on them for everything from a roof over their heads to shoes on their feet.

The family is treading water - paying only the essentials, while letting credit card bills pile up and leaning on the children's school to provide breakfast and lunch, Carol Albright said.

She plans to apply for food stamps, and the extras in life such as pizza or ice cream and a kid playing basketball, for which the family would have to pay for a uniform, are not doable, she said.

Tyrone foster parent Karen Koegler said a stigma is sometimes attached to foster parents.

She said some say foster parents take in children for the money, but she wouldn't take a baby-sitting job that paid 83 cents an hour.

"We got into this because I want my children to understand people are important," she said.

Donald E. Miles, St. Francis University Environmental, Safety & Health Officer who has fostered children in the past, is heading the charge to get the word out about helping the struggling families through loans.

"Our goal is to ensure that no child will need to give up the house, family, beds, friends or school they have become familiar with. Every time these children have to move is a huge setback to them," Miles stated in an e-mail. "Foster families serve as a vital part of our system that is in place to protect the children of our county, they already undertake a huge responsibility and to ask them to pay the price for what Harrisburg is failing to do is unfair."

The Pleasant Valley Assembly of God donated $2,000 to give to families.

One family has received help so far, but 33 Blair County children are not getting any money from the state currently, Miles said.

Blair County Children and Youth Services Director Maryanne Burger said the agency has 28 to 30 foster care families. That number does not include the families of other agencies such as Northwestern Human Services' Canal Ways Center in Hollidaysburg, she said.

Currently, independent foster agencies are providing funding to their families, but they cannot continue to do so indefinitely, Miles said.

The rate given to foster families is usually between $20 to $28 a day per child, Burger said. The math at the lowest payment works out to $140 a week, $560 a month, $6,720 a year.

No one has called her agency to say they cannot continue to foster a child, Burger said.

According to the Pennsylvania Partnerships for Children's The Porch Light Project, at any given time 19,000 children are in foster care statewide.

Mirror Staff Writer Amanda Clegg is at 949-7030.