(WHAS11) - This year alone, 3200 Jefferson County homes have gone into foreclosure.

Legal aid tries to help people before they lose their homes, but case loads have tripled.  Luckily because of a recent grant from the Louisville bar foundation, they’ll be able to keep helping people which, in times like these, can make a big difference.

Legal Aid holds meetings every Thursday to help people facing foreclosure.

Terry Aebersold’s first home is now in the foreclosure process.

Terry Aebersold who almost lost her home said, “I was crushed.  I didn’t know what I was going to do.”

Aebersold says she struggled for weeks trying to scrape together enough money to make her mortgage payments, but in the end, wasn’t able to.

That’s when Aebersold came across Legal Aid; an organization that helps people like Terry keep their homes.

Stewart Pope, the Legal Aid Advocacy Director said, “It’s very difficult.  You’re dealing with people in crisis; they’re about to lost their homes (which may be) their most valuable asset.  Many of them have no place to go.”

Stewart Pope has been the Advocacy Director at Legal Aid for the past 8 years and says he’s never seen so much need.

Pope said, “I think, right now, we probably have four times as many foreclosures as we had when I was started doing this eight years ago.”

More and more foreclosures has Stewart and others at Legal Aid struggling to keep with the workload.

Pope said, “The demand is far outstripping what we had been able to supply.”

But now, because of a $25,000 grant from the Louisville Bar Foundation, they’ll be able to continue providing their services to people like Terry; a service, she says, that has made a big difference.

Aebersold said, “It’s still going to take a while to work on the house and get everything done, but it’s ours and that’s what counts.”