NORTH FULTON – When families are in crisis in North Fulton or need a helping hand, there are places they can turn, even if most area residents don't know about them. But all struggle to meet the need and more needs to be done.

To show community leaders just what is done – and what needs to be done – for those in need, the nonprofit organizations of North Fulton organized a "windshield tour" of the various agencies by bus.

"We wanted to show people how the different agencies fit together," said North Fulton Community Charities Director Barbara Duffy. "We try to cover all the niches, but everyone is stretched.

North Fulton is no longer one of Atlanta's bedroom communities. The 2010 Census has shown it is a bustling metropolitan and suburban area completely incorporated into six cities with a population of 250,000. And it has the social needs of such a community (if it were one city it would the second largest in Georgia) engenders, especially in the wake of country's worst recession since 1929.

North Fulton Charities has been working with the disadvantaged and providing assistance to families for 28 years. It helps 5,000 families annually with a variety of services including its food pantry and emergency financial assistance. In 2010 NFCC provided 9 tons of food and staples each week, $1.1 million for direct rent or utility assistance, medical bills, transportation and other basic needs on an emergency basis.

"We've found to keep people from becoming homeless, there has to be an emergency trigger," Duffy said. "People need help before the late fees and eviction kicks in."

But the job is too big for just one organization. That is why other organizations have come forward to shoulder part of the load. Many have a bootstrap component that promises a way out for those who are willing to grab and opportunity.

Many North Fulton residents have lost jobs, experienced a medical crisis or lost transportation to a job and now are in danger of losing all they have. Stepping up to the plate to bat for them are:

** HOMESTRETCH: This nonprofit helps homeless families with minor children through its structured program of nine to 12 months which includes low-rent housing, teaching life skills, vocational skills and money management.

Homestretch owns 10 duplexes and 20 apartments it provides for its clients. But the adults must be employed and agree to the terms of the Homestretch program.

"We can provide a family a way to stay together," said Rose Burton, Homestretch director. "Emergency shelters won't take single dads with children. Teenage sons don't have to be separated. We keep the family together."

* THE DRAKE HOUSE: The 2004 Class of Chamber of Commerce Leadership North Fulton, armed with the damning statistic that homeless women with minor children are the fastest growing segment of the homeless population, saw that there was no agency in North Fulton to provide short-term emergency housing for these women.

An apartment complex of 16 units was gutted and renovated to provide 90 to 180 days respite for these families. A faith-based or civic organization sponsors each apartment. The average mother is 37, recently evicted. All clients must be employed or employable, drug- and alcohol-free and pass a criminal background check.

They also must have ties to the North Fulton community and have a referral from school, social workers or other agency.

In the last five years, The Drake House helped 181 families and 326 children.

"The Drake House is unique because with the individual apartments, these mothers can keep their teenage boys with them," said Christie Merritt of The Drake House. "Eighty-five percent of homeless families are headed by a single mom."

** HABITAT FOR HUMANITY: This is the homerun for homeless families who wind up in one of North Fulton's programs. This Christian ministry is known worldwide, but Habitat North Fulton-North Central Georgia must pull its own weight just like the other independent affiliates.

Habitat for Humanity builds homes for client families who are struggling to afford a home of their own. Each Habitat affiliate sells its families a home for nothing down (except the "300 hours of sweat equity" they must provide in building it) and then receive an interest-free mortgage that helps fund the next Habitat home.

Habitat has served 150 families in North Fulton alone, and 205 families in its four-county area.

** FIND A WAY HOME: It began as a part of Roswell Presbyterian Church's affordable housing ministries and has gone to be a separate 501 (c)(3) nonprofit housing ministry for workforce families, dedicated to finding, maintaining or rehabilitating affordable housing in North Fulton.

"These people often exceed the income qualifications for traditional housing programs, but they don't qualify for a mortgage – or can even pay market-rate rent," said Find A Way Executive Director Erin Fortney. "Our goal is to move families into homeownership."

Find A Way takes the position that if people work in the community, they should have the opportunity to live in the community, Fortney said.