Time is Now to Help: a one man crusade to help the poor

CNN Heroes calls Sal Dimiceli a "Dear Abby" for the poor.  He grew up experiencing bouts of poverty and wondered as a boy why no one would help his mother.  Seeing his own family suffer moved him to promise God that he would help the poor whenever he could. Struggling families, widows, single mothers, children, the elderly, and good people enduring hard times--all are often too proud or too ashamed to reach out and say they need help.  In the beginning, Dimiceli found them.

Eventually he started his own nonprofit to streamline his efforts.  The Time is Now to Help assists people with rent, utilities, food, blankets, and books.  Dimiceli has negotiated lower rents with landlords and stocked the bare cupboards of food pantries.

He generously donates at least 20% of his own income, but in the last decade he has begun to rely more on donations to his nonprofit, which he started in 1989.  He networks with local clubs and businesses to raise awareness about the immediate needs of the impoverished in Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.