Since it began in 1997 as group providing holiday assistance through an adopt-a-family and food basket program, Project GRACE has seen a lot of changes.

The group has now become a year-round organization providing numerous services to families in need – ranging from home repairs to dental work. These services are made possible through community donations and a dedicated group of volunteers.

A lot of those changes have been due to the work of Karen Packhem, the founder and first executive director of the organization.

“I never dreamed it would get like this,” she said. “But there was an obvious need for it and the resources to support it.”

Packhem resigned as executive director last week, although she will remain with the organization working with families. The main reason she gave for her resignation was that the job was becoming more focused on administrative tasks, fundraising and managing the organization.

“She certainly has been the person who has gone out in the community speaking with groups, which has been one way we received more and more donations” said long time volunteer Debbie Houle.

Packhem said she started Project GRACE as a way to get connected to the community and because she was able to provide time and resources to the organization.

“I feel extremely fortunate that I don’t have to work in the traditional sense of the word,” she said. “I had a sense there are unmet needs out there.”

Bert Follansbee, secretary of the organization’s board of directors, also has been with the program from the start. Like many others, she became involved when she started with the adopt-a-family program and has watched the program grow.

“We’re pretty much following her (Packhem’s) vision,” Follansbee said. “She had some really good ideas and her execution was great.”

When Packhem was organizing the adopt-a-family and food basket program in 1997, she said it became clear that there was a greater need in the community and wanted to help provide year round assistance to those in need.

Three years later Project GRACE, which is an acronym for Granting Resources and Assistance through Community Effort, began providing year round assistance to families in Scarborough, as well as other in outlaying towns. There are some 25 active volunteers with the group and its mailing list includes 1,200 people who have done some volunteering or donated money to the group.

“People were responsive to what we were doing,” Packhem said. “The more money we raised, the more we wanted to reach out to meet the needs.”

The hard part for the organization was trying to identify the families in need since many of them were afraid to ask for help. But through work with the schools, the town’s general assistance program and other avenues, the organization was able to provide assistance to those in need.

Last year the organization assisted 265 families providing help in a wide range of areas such as household expenses, medical care and clothing.

“Some of them are so surprised there is someone out there who wants to help,” Packhem said.

Follansbee said the organization assists to people that are not covered by social services. Sometimes the recipients will just need help once and other times people ask for assistance on a more regular basis.

“We’re really that extra little bit that makes things work out for them,” she said.

Some of the recipients even volunteer with the group to give back and others take out a loan with the group and pay the money back when they can.

“I never dreamed it would grow to what it has grown to,” Packhem said, adding the organization’s growth is related to the work of the many Project GRACE volunteers.

The organization has hired Hope Taggart, its first paid staff member. Taggart will take over as the group’s new executive director.

Packhem also will work on trying to develop other Project GRACE-like groups in other towns and is willing to help various groups explore the option.

Karen Packhem has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Project GRACE.