
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 22, 1995                   TAG: 9511220019
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOMAN HELPED THROUGH ROUGH PATCH

When Debra (not her real name) came to Roanoke Area Ministries for help, she was sure she would be turned down. She was trying to move into a new rent-subsidized apartment, but a credit check revealed a $250 debt from a lease she broke eight years ago.

She had already paid off most of it when she had a disagreement with the people with whom she was living. For several weeks, she was homeless.

Because it was her only debt, she thought she wouldn't be eligible for help, but when a worker at the Roanoke housing authority recommended RAM, she gave it a try.

She came away with $75 from RAM's emergency financial assistance program. Much of the money comes from the Good Neighbors Fund, which is sponsored by The Roanoke Times. Every year, readers send in thousands of dollars, all of which goes toward assistance with rent, medications and utility bills. None is spent on administrative costs.

The emergency financial assistance program is not meant to provide ongoing support; instead, it offers one-time assistance to people like Debra who have temporarily fallen on hard times.

"Things got a little bit bad at a time I wasn't expecting it," she acknowledged. "I'm glad there was an agency that could provide help for me."

Debra has a full-time job, but it doesn't pay much, and she receives no benefits. She could have paid the entire debt herself, she said, but it would have taken several more weeks to raise the money, and she was eager to get herself and her two children settled into their new home.

Now that she has a home, she said, life "will only get better."

Checks made payable to the Good Neighbors Fund should be mailed to the Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.

Names - but not donation amounts - 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.

Monday's contributions included:

Angela M. Wilson, in honor of Josephine M. Wilson

Earl C. Stanley Jr.

Kermit and Linda Kanode

Isabel R. Porterfield

Robert and Judith Ashcraft

David R. Arrington, in honor of his father, E.B. "Johnny" Arrington

In memory of Hoyt J. Holbrook

H.M. McCall Jr.

Tom and Sherri

Mildred Patteson

Junior and Wilma Murphy, in memory of loved ones

Ron and Judy East, in honor of Dorothy Smith

Mrs. Harry Holtman

Dorothy Cannaday

Fred and Patty Graybill

Nancy E.R. Tyler

Mrs. Robert Pickett

Mr. and Mrs. Roland J. Blake, in memory of Lenwood Moore

James White

George E. Wade

Mr. and Mrs. J. Bernard Parker, in memory of Jane Elizabeth

Merl and Elsie Coffey

Mr. and Mrs. Harry B. Porterfield

Orrin and Dotsy Clifton

Anne-Somers Bailey, in memory of her parents

Leon Vigdor

Barbara R. Branch

Maxine B. Grubbs, in memory of Carl R. Grubbs and Mr. and Mrs. H.R. Brugh

Virginia T. Keller

Good Friends Thursday Bridge Club

J.P. Taney

Calvary Baptist Foundation

ANONYMOUS DONATIONS$305

SUBTOTAL$2,505

TOTAL AS OF 11/21/95$2,505

by CNB