NATCHEZ &045; Nancy Hungerford, executive director of the Natchez Children’s Home, has a simple answer for those wondering what they can offer the nonprofit organization.

As she put it, &uot;We need everything you’d need for your home &045; only a lot more of it.&uot;

That’s because the private Christian group home for abused, abandoned, neglected and at-risk children has just been relicensed to house up to 16 children at a time.

&uot;And everything they wear, every bite they put in their mouths, and everything else from counseling to toiletries to heating and cooling has to be maintained in order to (house them) 24 hours a day every day of the year,&uot; Hungerford said.

And since it is a privately-run home, the nonprofit has to raise 95 percent of its budget through donations and fund-raisers.

So perhaps it’s not surprising that the first thing Hungerford needs from the community is cash donations to simply operate the home throughout the year &045;not to mention donations to Christmas gifts for the children.

There are many ways to give, such as joining the home’s Children’s Club or leaving the organization money through wills, bequests and memorials. In addition, businesses can commit to matching the donations their employees give to the home.

&uot;We need people to remember us not just at Christmas, but all year,&uot; said Hungerford, whose nonprofit was founded in 1816 and still provides long-term care for children from throughout Mississippi and Louisiana.

&uot;We need sustained givers to help me sustain the work of bringing order out of the chaos these youngsters come from.

&uot;Their needs,&uot; she said, &uot;are overwhelming. They’re the victims. And in some cases, they’ve had to practically raise themselves or, in the cases where there are brothers or sisters, raise each other, too.&uot;

The home also needs understanding volunteers and, of all things, a pickup truck that is in good working condition and is a 2000 model or later &045; and hopefully a full-sized truck, although a smaller one would certainly be accepted.

That is because the home’s 1983 model pickup truck, which is used to maintain the home’s six acres and pick up items for the facility, is on its last leg.

&uot;We’ll have to have a funeral for it soon,&uot; Hungerford said, laughing. &uot;We’ve used about all the gum and Super Glue we can use on it.&uot;

Meanwhile, Hungerford and her staff and volunteers will continue to make every dollar stretch until it screams.

&uot;This is a Herculean task,&uot; she said, &uot;and it takes a village to do it.&uot;