The register seldom rings these days at Saret Treasures of Hope in downtown Glen Ellyn. But the phone rings steadily and often—the calls for help keep pouring in from local people who have fallen on hard times. 

People like Bernard Pokorny, 53, who lost his Naperville home last year after a refinancing deal gone bad. Pokorny once had a thriving upholstery business and an estimated net worth of around $500,000—until the post-9/11 economic downturn, and an inherited debt of nearly $200,000 accrued by his late father and his uninsured cancer-stricken mother, started what he called his "gradual slide to the lake." He sought help last year from a mortgage broker who made lots of promises but left him with a refinanced mortgage he couldn't afford, and not one penny of the $200,000 equity he once had in his home, he said. Before long, Pokorny was out of work, out of money and living in his truck.

Then the Saret Charitable Fund stepped in and found housing for Pokorny in a Westmont apartment owned by the Community Housing Association of DuPage. He lives there today, thanks to rent assistance from Saret, and continues to search for work. But much of his time these days seems to be spent helping out in whatever way he can at Saret Treasures of Hope, the retail store opened in 2007 to raise money for the Saret Charitable Fund.

"I just bide my time, hoping something good happens so I can move on with life," Pokorny said.

For 25 years, the Saret Charitable Fund has provided aid to DuPage County residents like Pokorny in a variety of ways, including rent assistance, car donations, food vouchers and oftentimes money—to keep the heat on during winter, buy a bus pass to get to job interviews, or put gas in a car that also serves as a home. The charity has been helping around 500 people a year—as many as it can, given what the president of Saret Charitable Fund, Chana Bernstein, describes as an "alarming" decline in donations since the recession began. 

"The last two years have been a nightmare," Bernstein said. "We struggle as hard as our clients do." 

In March, Bernstein moved the retail store from its original location on Roosevelt Rd. to a downtown storefront on Main St., hoping to generate more sales and raise more money for her charity, which also serves disabled clients and families devastated by illness or injury. But after an initial boost in sales during the first few months at the new location, a severe slump during August and September has left the store unable to cover its rent and other expenses including payroll. 

"We need to sell $300 a day to cover the costs, cover the payroll and then even have extra money for the charity," Bernstein said. "But in August and September, it's been about $100 a day."

Bernstein hopes that Glen Ellyn will start its holiday shopping a little earlier this year for a good cause. The goal is to get 100 customers to spend about $50 this month at Saret, which features handmade jewelry, but also sells clothing, artwork, crafts, books, greeting cards, and eco-friendly natural products for health, home and body care. Special discounts of 20 or 25 percent will be offered on all jewelry and clothing every day of the week this month. And 50 door prizes will be given away in a free raffle open to anyone who visits the store. 

"All we need now is more women coming to the store," Bernstein said. "We need women helping women. Even though we help men also, the majority of our clients are women, because they're so vulnerable."

Bernstein also hopes to attract more involvement from the community, which in the past has hosted lunches or other events to raise money for the charity, and to convince more schools, churches and other nonprofits to hold their fundraiser events at the store, which will give back 25 to 40 percent of all sales made during a fundraising event.

"The community needs to not shy away from facing these problems and participate in this," Bernstein said. "Because for the first time in so many years, we have run into people who never in their lives dreamed that they would be poor and wouldn't be able to pay their bills. They didn't do anything wrong. They didn't do drugs. They didn't have behavioral problems. They didn't run away from home... How nice it would be if people knew there was help out there for them at their time of need."

Saret Treasures of Hope is located in downtown Glen Ellyn at 449 Main Street. For more information, call (630) 793-9556 or visit www.saretcharitablefund.org.