This page has some information about how parish staffs can help families and individuals with food, clothing, travel, and shelter emergencies, even after the hours when Catholic Charities and other resource agencies are normally open.
Father, I m glad I caught you. You re going out?. I just need a minute or
two of your time. Can I please walk with you.
Father, I m desperate. Watch your step, Father. I got my wife and two small
kids in the car over there. We re going to Tennessee for my mom s funeral.
We left Fargo in North Dakota Wednesday morning. We had car trouble when we
got to Dubuque. The radiator cracked and let the fluent out. Lucky the
motor didn t burn up. But fixing it took all our money. We have been
sleeping in the car. But the kids are so hungry. A friend in Fargo said I
should stop at St. Clovis parish in Chicago, if I needed help. I don t know
how he knew about you, but he said you would help us.
Is that you car, Father? Maybe, we could wash it, or something. Father, you
got to help us. We need money for food and gas. Can't you give us thirty
dollars? I'll repay you next week, for sure..6... I ll die if we miss mom's
funeral.
Father, I need your help.
Welfare Reform is upon us! People will be turning to churches in
increased numbers. Every parish wants to be prepared.
Catholic Charities would like to assist you to meet this serious
situation. This web page is a beginning effort to brainstorm our
mutual response: how to use our present information & resources to
respond realistically to people's needs.
People will knock on your door:
(1) during the working day:
If you can meet their immediate needs, great!
Otherwise, at a 6minimum, you or the rectory staff need at
least one person you can contact for information and/or
assistance --
The Vincent de Paul Society
A parish social care program
Your Catholic Charities parish contact
A local human service organization
(2) after hours, when rectory staff have gone home and most agencies
are closed.
For this you need a plan. Our information page contains some
ideas on how you can prepare yourself & your rectory staff for
these situations.
Chicago Catholic Charities
The Chicago Catholic Charities is a large social
service agency that provides many services for families, children and
individuals in need.
The main unit of Information and Referral is located in the 126 N. DesPlaines offices, which are open during the day, 8:30am to 4:30pm, Monday through Friday. Individual departments may operate with longer hours or with special telephone connections.
If you do not have a parish social concerns committee, then we strongly encourage you -- before a problem arises- to have a contact person at Catholic Charities. Call Mary Grace at 655-XXXX.
People with lesser needs you may be able to help directly. But people with larger needs probably require resources available through agencies of local government. These resources differ from community to community. It is helpful to be acquainted with the officials and staff of your local governmental agencies that manage those resources.
The way to provide compassionate, effctive assistance to anyone is to take time to listen to the story which brought them to you for help. Ask questions. What brought them to their present state? How do they plan to get by after the help you may give is depleted? Why did they come now for help?
Be interested, get a good picture of the situation and know if what you may offer can make a difference, or may possibly support a dangerous lifestyle. Being the steward of parish funds and donations asks for care in their distribution. It is hard to listen to the answers if you are rushed or if you do not know what help is available for the person.
Research a list of area agencies and hotline numbers (i.e., local police,
senior centers, Area Agency on Aging, County Health Department, Department of
Human Services, or township) with phone numbers, contact person and the
services provided.
To prepare the list:
Have a volunteer committee research the area emergency shelter systems, food
distribution centers, clothing and furniture distribution sites and medical
outreach. Ask them to visit sites if possible to meet a person to whom
referrals should go, the hours of service, who they can serve and how they
could interact with your emergency assistance program. Learn from them about
other programs.
Ask for a list from the township, local police station, local hospital, or
area newspaper.
In the meantime, follow church guidelines: perhaps offer a fast-food
certificate or a $5 voucher for gasoline. Again, a parish plan must be
tailored to the real world in w2hich your parish operates. Jewel Food
certificates might be workable in one parish. Giving them out in another
parish might result in 20 strangers at your door in the morning asking for
similar certificates. Explain that you never give cash.
Do they need a worker from a local agency? Do they need budgeting
counseling? Is there addiction in the family? Help by finding and healing
the root of the problem, as Christ did.
Be sensitive to security for people meeting those in need.
Dont have the parish duplicate a service which is offered through another
accessible program. Obviously, programs within the parish should not be in
competition, and should have different strategies for helping the poor.
Use programs supported by parishioners' tax dollars and encourage
parishioners to volunteer to drive people to those programs, e.g., county
health programs.
Have a system for knowing whom the parish is helping. Be sensitive to the
need for confidentiality.
Select here to go to the
Catholic Charities of Chicago Information and Referral page.
Last modified: Oct. 21, 1996
REMOTE PREPARATIONS TO HELP PEOPLE IN NEED
Develop parish guidelines so that all in the parish who give help offer the
same service to anyone who comes for assistance. (This promotes consistency
in giving, and understanding between all involved - including parishioners in
general.)
FOOD, CLOTHING, GASOLINE
Have one person (staff or volunteer) responsible for the emergency assistance
program. If the designated person is not on site, ask the person to return
at a time when he/she is.
HOUSING
Your community has some way of providing emergency housing. Contact your
police for emergency shelter. Have a parish plan which has been prepared
with knowledge of existing local resources and personal contacts in these
resources which the local parish committee has developed.
SHELTER FOR ABUSED WOMEN AND CHILDREN
On an emergency basis, the police are in the best situation to set the
communities emergency resources into motion. Contact them.
EMPLOYMENT
The evening or the weekend is not a good time for working on this
problem. (Additional text will be developed for this section.)
ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS
If people regularly come for emergency assistance, find out with whom the
parish can collaborate to give more effective help.