When Scott Frasca founded the Make a Difference in Peabody Foundation in 2002, his expectations were tempered.

“I just wanted to help,” said Frasca. “If you have the resources, why not use them?”

Since then, Make a Difference has become a staple of the community with 123 volunteers and working relationships with city officials, public safety officers, schools, and other charities.

Despite the foundation entering its ninth year, the idea of running a charity had been with Frasca long before that. Frasca has been involved in community service since he was 17, and has held several positions within the city. In 1991 he tried to establish a veteran’s charity, but that fell through in the planning stages.

“I realized I had a lot I could offer, and I have a passion for the people in Peabody,” said Frasca. “Charity is helping those near you in need, so that’s what I try to do.”

After his public service terms were up in 1999 and 2000, he started work on what would become the Make a Difference in Peabody Foundation, a charity established to provide basic emergency needs to those in Peabody.

Frasca was inspired by the Charles Dicken’s classic story, "A Christmas Carol."

“What made a difference to Scrooge in the end was providing food and heat to those in his community. That’s what this foundation is all about,” Frasca said.

Make a Difference provides a number of basic emergency needs to those in need in Peabody. Most of the time the aid is in the form of providing oil for heat, food gift cards, or help with electricity bills. On occasion they can also provide rent relief, flood and fire assistance, or even, on rare occasions, providing appliances like stoves and refrigerators.

Requests for relief can be made directly to the foundation through their Web site, madip.org, or by city officials how recognize people in need of assistance.

“We’re well established within the city so, if a situations comes up, we’ll get contacted by officials directly, or people they refer to us,” explains Frasca.

Make a Difference also has volunteers who act as liaisons to each school who are in contact with guidance counselors, who will alert them if a situation comes up in counseling session.

“There are some situations that are too big for us, but we’ll always provide whatever we can,” said Frasca.

This past holiday season was their biggest yet. At Thanksgiving they provided food to over 800 people around the city. For Christmas, they organized a massive volunteer effort which provided over $6,000 in stocking stuffers in the form of clothes or food.

“Right now is the biggest demand we’ve experienced, and it’s worse now than it was even 6 months ago so, demand is growing,” said Frasca. “We just need to work harder and think bigger to meet this demand.”

After the New Year Make a Difference will begin constructing a strategic plan for its future. While they don’t intend to branch out beyond Peabody, Frasca believes that their success in Peabody can easily be replicated elsewhere.

“Peabody  is really where my heart is,” says Frasca. “We’re a sustainable organization that is growing and, hopefully, we’ll be able to do even more in the future. We will be around as long as we need to be.”