It is is made up of 12 churches — including the Salem Church of God, which Stahl belongs to — plus the YMCA, Northmont City Schools and Northmont FISH, which helps provide food.
“The financial need is definitely growing, and there are people who struggle silently,” said Stahl, who is a Dayton Daily News Community Gem. “If we can help fill that void, that’s what we want to be able to do.”
There are numerous families who are trying their best but just can’t afford the rising costs of living, Stahl said.
“I think one of the things that gets missed is the cost of housing,” she said. “The cost of rental properties, not only in the Northmont community, but all over, are exorbitant.”
Stahl helps coordinate the Christmas Store, held each year at Crestview Church, and the back-to-school supplies. Community Table also helps with food items for families, provides backpacks of food for kids who get free or reduced lunches to take home over the weekend, gets kids coats and can even help with rent or other emergency, short-term needs.
The organization could not do what it does without the help of the community, Stahl said.
“All these things have become community-wide work,” she said. “It’s been amazing to sit back and watch how this community has come together and responded.”
In early August, Stahl led the back-to-school event, which passed out school supplies to about 700 kids, she said.
Community Table also steps in on a case-by-case basis if other needs in the community become apparent.
The organization has helped students who are ready to graduate and can’t afford a cap and gown, Stahl said, as well as with a student’s family crisis where a parent died and the children needed funeral clothes.
“It just all depends upon what the situation is and how we can just try to meet that (need),” she said. “We can’t always guarantee, a lot of it is beyond our scope, but we certainly try.”
Credit: Bryant Billing
Credit: Bryant Billing
The organization started during the 2008 financial crisis, Stahl said, when the assistant to the outreach pastor at Salem Church of God kept getting calls seeking financial assistance.
“Her response was to take that to the pastor and say, this situation is growing and we cannot do it by ourselves,” Stahl said. “We need to see if there’s some way we can pull the churches in the community together to try to help meet some of those needs.”
In the beginning, there were five churches, and it grew from there, Stahl said. That first year, the organization gave Christmas gifts to five families and 15 to 20 kids, she said, but last year, the Christmas Store provided gifts to between 700 and 800 kids.
“Under the umbrella of Community Table, we were pooling our resources and pooling our efforts to be able to reach out to a bigger area,” she said.
Mary Ann Moore, who is involved with Community Table and the Northmont Rotary, said Stahl “just works tirelessly.”
“Debbie has been doing this for years, and I know many others help her, but she is the leader, and I know she spends endless hours organizing these events,” Moore said. “The community should applaud and support her for all her efforts to help families in need.”
To reach out to Community Table, call 937-832-6192, or email communitytableinc@gmail.com.
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