Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 21, 1993 TAG: 9311210039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Over the past 10 years, Roanoke Times & World-News readers have contributed more than $725,000 to the fund - money channeled through Roanoke Area Ministries to provide emergency services to the region's poor.
Good Neighbors Fund contributions have been used to provide prescription drugs, heating fuel, electricity, water and other essentials to hundreds of families in the Roanoke Valley and surrounding communities.
A small portion of that total also has supported the operation of RAM's day shelter, RAM House, where the homeless and other poor get a midday meal as well as protection from the elements.
The money has done incalculable good for the community, said Hollingsworth, RAM's executive director, yet the need remains as great as ever.
The fund was started in November 1983 by the Roanoke Times & World-News as a way to allow readers to express their generosity during the holiday season.
When Walter Rugaber, the newspaper's publisher, went looking for a beneficiary for the fund, Roanoke Area Ministries seemed an excellent fit.
"RAM's mission of meeting the emergency needs of those who fall through the cracks of the public-assistance system was just the kind of program we at the newspaper were looking for," Rugaber said.
"Over the past decade, we have been overwhelmed at times by our readers' outpouring of support for this annual event, and we trust that support will continue as RAM begins a new year of service."
The growth of the ecumenical relief agency has paralleled the increasing contributions to the Good Neighbors Fund over the years.
What is now known as RAM began 25 years ago. After initially serving as a distributor of surplus government food to the poor, it was transformed into a cooperative effort among many Roanoke Valley religious institutions to provide emergency relief to people who often showed up at their doors needing assistance.
The ministry was designed to coordinate the delivery of money and other assistance - primarily to people who were not members of the participating congregations - and to help stem the occasional abuse of a few who would profit by continuing to solicit donations even after they had received help.
RAM annually receives financial and other contributions from about 200 religious groups and many businesses. It also is the clearinghouse for some federal and local government aid to the poor.
In the years since the Good Neighbors Fund began, the agency has grown from a one-person operation that often ran out of money before the year ended to an office of eight people - assisted by 400 volunteers - and a $344,000 annual budget.
Even with that growth, if money wasn't carefully budgeted, it still would be drained away long before the last page of the calendar was turned, Hollingsworth said. There always are more needs than resources.
Contributions to the Good Neighbors Fund last fall were down $25,000 from the record $125,000 of the year before, a decline Hollingsworth attributed primarily to the region's flat and sometimes uncertain economy.
But thanks to increased awareness about the agency through the newspaper's annual fund drive, as well as conservative budget planning each year, the agency has been able to maintain its services.
RAM has developed a sophisticated program that screens applicants for aid, helps many find long-term solutions to their financial problems and provides a wide range of services.
While the Good Neighbors Fund provides the bulk of the money for the $170,000 emergency assistance program - mostly doled out in amounts of less than $50 - the agency also spends more than $100,000 a year on RAM House, offers larger grants to help those in danger of losing their homes make mortgage or rent payments, delivers food supplements to the critically ill and provides bus fare to help the newly employed get to their jobs.
Checks should be made payable to Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 1951, Roanoke 24010.
Names - but not the amounts of donations - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed. Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
Gifts cannot be earmarked for any particular individual or family. Gifts are tax-deductible.
The fund drive will continue through Jan. 1.
by CNB