Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, November 28, 1994 TAG: 9411280078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The needy can be helped once or twice a year, and the amount of assistance is usually between $65 and $75.
The emergency financial assistance program is not meant to help people on an ongoing basis. It is there to help them get back on their feet, said Roanoke Area Ministries Director Julie Hollingsworth.
But sometimes, it just isn't enough. That's where RAM's Second Mile program comes in. This 3-year-old program is funded through a yearly benefit event as well as through private donations. Last year, nearly $10,000 was raised.
The proceeds go toward one-time payments of several hundred dollars each for rent or mortgage. The families and individuals helped by this program are in danger of becoming homeless because of unexpected setbacks and just need a temporary boost.
For Marie (not her real name), the trouble began one day in January, when she came home from work and found that her husband had packed up and left, leaving her with all the bills.
"I never expected he would leave," she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
At the time, Marie, 42, was working on commission. She earned enough to pay her share of the couple's expenses, but not enough to cover them all.
She immediately began looking for help. She called several churches, only to find that many of them help only their own members or that most of their funds earmarked for charity went to overseas missions. Those churches are "short-sighted, or they don't care," she said.
Marie tried other agencies, but found she had too many assets, such as the car she drove to work, or that she had arrived too late and the funds for the month had run out.
Most of the time, she said, she spent a minimum of five hours waiting at each place where she went for help. She was able to qualify for food stamps; after an eight-hour wait, a church-run charity gave her $20 toward her telephone bill, for which she was grateful.
All of this was new to Marie, who had left a well-paying job in a large city to come to Roanoke.
"There was a time when I had money to burn," she said, but most of what she had was invested in her husband's business, which failed.
She finally came to Roanoke Area Ministries, where she was given $60 toward her electric bill from the Good Neighbors Fund and money for rent. She had been taken to court for rent by that time.
Her rent was paid through the Second Mile program, and Hollingsworth even went to court with her, Marie said.
Of all the charities she contacted, she said, RAM was the most helpful.
By April, Marie had found a full-time salaried position and had earned enough to start over again in a new apartment.
But, like many couples, she and her husband had used their credit cards to the maximum. They were all in her name, she said, and she was responsible for them.
Marie could have filed for bankruptcy, but decided not to. Instead, she closed all of her accounts and took two part-time minimum-wage jobs to pay them off.
Bankruptcy, she said, "is something to be avoided. I feel I am a strong enough person to take care of myself and get back on my feet."
Marie figures she is about three years away from paying the cards off. In the meantime, she is working down another debt.
Hollingsworth said that people who receive help from the Second Mile program are asked to pay back the money interest-free when they have stabilized their lives.
"I'm paying as best I can," Marie said. By November, she was more than halfway there.
Deciding to give funds to someone from Second Mile is "an investment in the person," Hollingsworth said. "We know they are going to turn things around."
Checks should be made payable to Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to Roanoke Times & World-News, Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not amounts of donations - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed in the newspaper. 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.
by CNB