Ever since Toni Hooper took in her young niece and nephew because of family issues, she has been having a hard time making ends meet.

“I’m struggling,” said the 29- year-old Cheektowaga resident.

Theodore Alger, 54, said, “It takes a lot” to raise his 9-year-old grandson, whom he has had custody since he was a toddler.

Hooper, Alger and others gathered Friday in the headquarters of Catholic Charities of Buffalo to launch a public awareness campaign aimed at helping grandparents and other kin caregivers access the nonparent caregiver grant.

The public assistance program, dubbed Kincare, provides $400 a month for one child and $125 a month for each additional child in a household headed by a grandparent or other relative.

The grant is based solely on the child’s income, and not on the caregiver’s. Because of that, Kincare families need not be low-income. The nonparent caregiver must be full time. And kinship caregivers do not need legal custody or guardianship to apply for these grants.

Yet the financial benefits program is underutilized, said officials of Catholic Charities and AARP New York State, which make up the New York State Kincare Coalition.

According to figures presented by the coalition, there are about 410,000 children in the state who are being raised by a grandparent or other relative.

Of that, state figures show that about 8 percent—or about 32,000 eligible children — are currently receiving the nonparent grant.

Approximately 19,000 children in the City of Buffalo and the counties of Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany are being raised by a grandparent.

Officials did not have a true figure of how many of those children receive the Kincare grant because there are many different programs that can link people to the program, said Rose Caldwell, spokeswoman for Catholic Charities.

Plus, the figure does not include relative caregivers — like Hooper—other than grandparents. Hooper takes care of her 7- year-old niece, Mackenzie, and 13-year-old nephew, Joseph.

The Cheektowaga resident took over raising her niece and nephew five years ago because of family issues. For the past 4z years, Hooper has been working with disabled people at Community Services.

Hooper said the program helps with things like food and clothes for the children.

A resident of the Riverside neighborhood of Buffalo, Alger, who works for a labor union, got custody of his grandson from his daughter because of her medical issues.

He found out about the caregiver grant three years ago.

“We’ve got a great message and we’ve got to get the message out, not just in Buffalo,” said Lois Aronstein, director of AARP New York State.

The grant money comes from the state and is administered by counties, Caldwell said. The agency helps clients file paperwork with the Erie County Department of Social Services.

For more information on the nonparent caregiver grant, contact the Preventive Services Kinship Unit at Catholic Charities, 896-6390.