The help guy One determined man's publication guides the needy. Guy Keeler, The Fresno Bee Originally published 2007-03-27
Three of Dale Brannan's four children died in accidents. A fourth was lost in a miscarriage. But he knows he wouldn't be the person he is today had he not experienced adversity. So he thanks God for the pain and strives to help others going through hard times.
Brannan, of Fresno, is the creator and distributor of Needhelp Now, a 12-page publication with a twofold purpose: Guide the hurting to places where they can find help, and show the healthy where they can volunteer to serve the hurting. "A big brochure is all it really is," Brannan says, speaking with the self-effacing modesty that has characterized his effort from its beginning. "It's a simple idea." The tabloid-size publication, printed on newsprint for 4 cents a copy, contains information on Fresno County nonprofit agencies that provide help for people in need. Maps and photos are included to make finding site locations easier.
"The response has been extraordinary," says Betty Sanders, director of the faith-based Entrepreneurial Training Center in Fresno, which helps unemployed people gain skills and find jobs. "We ask people who come to us where they heard about ETC, and they usually say they read it in the paper [Needhelp Now]."The Salvation Army keeps a stack of the papers on hand in its church and at its Fresno Family Service Center, says Capt. Richard Larson, the organization's Fresno County coordinator. "It's very helpful for people who are going through a problem for the first time or who are new to town," he says. "It's a great way for them to learn where help is available." Needhelp Now also makes it easier for nonprofit agencies to work together, says the Rev. Larry Arce, chief executive officer of the Fresno Rescue Mission, where Brannan also serves as a volunteer mentor. "We had a young man come in who had been kicked out of home by his parents," Arce says. "He didn't know where to go and wound up here. Through Needhelp Now, we were able to direct him to some other organizations where he could find help looking for job opportunities."
Brannan, 64, says his desire to help others grew out of his personal pain. On Nov. 3, 1965, his son, Bobby Eugene, drowned at age 2. In 1971, Brannan's wife, Frances, suffered a miscarriage. On June 2, 1974, his 3-year-old daughter, Rebecca Elaine, was struck and killed by a car. Another son, Darrell Eugene, was 25 when he was killed after his car collided with a truck that had run a stop sign south of Fresno in 1990. Brannan, who was living in Bakersfield when Bobby and Rebecca died, went through periods of despair and bitterness after their deaths. "I called God every name in the book," he says. "I was in a rage." Brannan eventually came to terms with his grief when he realized he had not been abandoned by God. He says a simple sentence from II Corinthians 1:3-4 taught him there can be a purpose in suffering. He uses these words, from "The Message" translation of the Bible, to remind him to keep his eyes on others, not on himself. "He [God] comes alongside us when we go through hard times, and before you know it, he brings us alongside someone else who is going through hard times so that we can be there for that person just as God was there for us."
As he thought about the anguish he endured while grieving the loss of his children, Brannan recognized there could be others who might not know where to turn during times of crisis. So he put up a 4-by-8-foot sign in his front yard in 1985 that proclaimed: "This house believes that Jesus is God's son and that God raised him from the dead. Our door is open to you." The goal in putting up the sign was to encourage passers-by to stop for help. As people knocked on his door, however, Brannan soon realized many had needs he could not meet -- and he didn't know where to send them to get the proper assistance.
Brannan brought his desire to help others with him when he moved to Fresno in 1989. He volunteered at the Fresno Rescue Mission and, a few years later, came across a pamphlet, published by First Presbyterian Church in downtown Fresno, which listed all the nonprofit agencies within a one-mile radius. Suddenly, a light went on in his brain.
He could bring hurting people together with helpers by compiling a comprehensive directory of not-for-profit agencies and blanketing Fresno County with the information.
Brannan, a former truck driver and terminal manager who also has worked as a children's pastor and a salesman, began gathering information on nonprofit organizations in Fresno County, giving special attention to those with long track records in helping others. He drove down streets in every neighborhood, looking for areas with special needs. But before his research was complete, he suffered a serious heart attack on Easter Sunday of 1999.
The damage was so severe he had to go on disability and has had five more heart attacks since then. Despite his health problems and lack of publishing experience, Brannan refused to be deterred. Using the printed material he was given, he summarized each nonprofit's mission and then took his work back for review at each agency to make sure everything was correct. Four years ago, he published a small brochure with his own money and distributed it to churches, nonprofit agencies and businesses. A year later he expanded the information into an 8-page tabloid format and paid for the printing with donations.
The original Needhelp Now contained no photographs and had a homemade look. But it caught the eye of James Carrasco, director of creative services at Peoples Church, who was impressed by the paper's simple purpose. Brannan's name did not appear anywhere in the paper, and Carrasco had to call some of the nonprofit agencies listed to find out who had put it together. "I called Dale, and we talked over the phone," Carrasco says. "Then we met at Starbucks and he shared his life story. As a result of that, I asked him what I could do to help. I felt God was calling me to get involved." Carrasco volunteered his graphic design skills to help Brannan produce the current 12-page Needhelp Now. Although it was tempting to dress up the publication with eye-catching graphics, Carrasco kept the design simple. "There was no need to impress people," he says. "The information speaks for itself." Frances Brannan, the daytime shelter manager at the Fresno Rescue Mission's Craycroft Youth Center, says she was a little nervous when her husband put up the "open door" sign in front of their Bakersfield home back in 1985. But she calls his passion to help others a blessing. "I wouldn't call Dale a workaholic, but he's close to it," she says. "He's very focused. But he has changed. He's gentler and kinder now." Her husband's heart attacks have reminded him of his mortality but haven't slowed him down much, she says. "Even when we're on vacation, he likes to stop and get information on nonprofits," she says. Brannan would like to see versions of Needhelp Now published in every community, and he hopes to spread the idea throughout the central San Joaquin Valley and see others ultimately take it throughout the world. Carrasco already has carried the concept to the Philippines, where his wife's brothers have agreed to distribute a similar publication in Cebu City. "What Dale has taught me is that everyone is needy at one time or another," Carrasco says. "Needhelp Now is not only for the poor. Dale wants it to be for everyone -- the spiritually poor as well as the needy.
He's driven by a desire to see lives changed." The reporter can be reached at gkeeler@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6383.