By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter

An agency that helps Benicia residents who find themselves needing aid because of unexpected circumstances recently got a little help itself.

Local nonprofit organization Families in Transition recently received a $3,000 donation from Valero Benicia Refinery, FIT board member Bobbi Enderlin said.

The check was sent last week to FIT from Sue Fisher Jones, the refinery’s public affairs manager.

“The organization receives a grant from the city of Benicia each year, but the need is greater, so they are always looking for donations from the community,” Enderlin said.

Families in Transition was started in 1989. Its founding member, Sally Gibbs, was inspired when she heard a speaker from Habitat for Humanity say, “If you want to help people, start with your own backyard.”

Gibbs and other founders began with funds contributed by local churches and, later, by the city. The organization officially began June 7, 1991, Gibbs said at its celebration this year of 20 years of service.

FIT offers one-time help to Benicians who are experiencing unanticipated financial setbacks caused by such calamities as illness, the death of a spouse or the loss of a job.

The organization has helped more than 800 families pay back rent or overdue utility bills. Unlike some agencies, all of the money donated to FIT goes to help those in need because board members themselves are volunteers who cover their own administrative expenses.

“We have been longtime supporters of Families in Transition,” Fisher Jones said. “It supports the basic needs of the community.”

The local refinery makes contributions to FIT and other groups year-round, as well as annual allocations from its share of proceeds from the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio.

For 2011, that ceremony will take place some time in the fall, Fisher Jones said.

“We’ve supported FIT every year with some sort of contribution,” she said. “This goes back way before my time (with the company).”

One of the reasons the refinery regularly gives to FIT is because of the families the agency serves, Fisher Jones said.

She said the refinery also admires how FIT interacts with other agencies, particularly the Benicia Community Action Council, to make sure residents’ needs are met. “Often this is the first time they ever needed anything,” Fisher Jones said of a typical FIT client. “These are their baseline needs.”

FIT helps “keep the lights on until they qualify for another program,” she said.

Those who need help or want to contribute may call the Families in Transition hot line and its president, Nora Gauger, at 707-645-3000.

Applications for aid are available at the Community Action Council, 480 Military East, or may be obtained through the agency’s website.