Jackson Free Press

Jackson non-profit Stewpot Community Services is once again fully operational after a budget crunch brought on by the theft of up to $120,000 in November.

The 32-year-old non-profit organization, designed to help lift Jackson's homeless out of poverty, was able to reopen its Opportunity Center, as well as a shelter for women and children called Sim's House, just one week after announcing that both would be temporarily closed while the organization recovered from the theft.

Program Director Frank Spencer said Friday that anonymous donors stepped up after the story hit the newspapers, and Stewpot received three large donations. The city of Jackson also voted to donate $40,000 on May 28 in a unanimous vote from the city council.

"We are in better standing financially than we were at the end of last summer," Spencer said. "We had a gentleman who donated $40,000 and two foundations that each gave us $40,000. It got us back on even keel to finish out the summer, we think."

The Opportunity Center, located at 845 Amite Street, is a site that offers showers, a computer lab, a place to do laundry. It also provides services to connect the homeless to rehabilitation centers, mental health care and employment. Spencer said the Opportunity Center serves around 100 people a day, and Sim's House provides shelter for 25 women and children. Both sites were able to reopen one week after closing. Stewpot serves about 650 people every day.

Spencer also had to furlough some of his 25 full-time and 10 part-time employees. He was happy to report Friday he's been able to bring all of them back.

The non-profit lost an estimated $120,000 in one week from Nov. 22 to Nov. 29, 2012, when a scammer put in a change-of-address form for the non-profit and, having some of its mail diverted to another address, where the thief stole the donation checks.

"We knew something was up when we didn't get near the number of donations we usually do," Spencer said. "We get 40 percent of our contributions during the months of November and December, and for the week after Thanksgiving, our average number is around $120,000.

Spencer contacted the U.S. Postal Service, and a Federal Postal Inspector investigation produced stills from a video camera inside the post office showing a man submitting the change of address form.

Spencer said, to his knowledge, the search for the man continues.

The organization's next big fundraiser is the Red Beans and Rice Festival on Nov. 1.