Pointing the way to help for poor

By PAUL QUIRINI- | Comments: 0 | Leave a comment

In the past, when somebody came to Immaculate Conception Church in Schenectady to ask for money or food, Rev. Louis Deimeke, pastor, helped as best he could, even if the situation didn't seem legitimate.

Now, he no longer needs to worry about giving people cash or a meal. Instead, he can point them in the right direction for getting the assessment, referrals and crisis intervention services they need through the Community Crisis Network.

CCN is an effort by five agencies, including Catholic Charities of Schenectady County, "to get people the help they truly need in a crisis situation," said Father Deimeke, a member of the group's policy committee. "A lot of people just don't know where to go or who to turn to."

Growing need

Formed in March, the CCN evolved in response to the growing number of welfare recipients who became ineligible for benefits or were breaking the rules for receiving benefits, according to John Steele, executive director of Catholic Charities of Schenectady County.

About two dozen Catholic, Jewish and Protestant clergy attended a meeting in March to learn about the CCN and how their congregations could participate.

The goal is "to help people on the fringe get to a point of self-sufficiency where they would not have to come to the food pantry or seek financial assistance," Mr. Steele said. "Many local families are working poor in minimum- or low-wage paying jobs that don't provide adequate financial security."

Such people might not have an earth-shattering crisis but might simply need car parts or help with paying utility bills or rent. "It's not always necessarily somebody who's extremely hungry and needs a meal. It's everyday problems," Mr. Steele said.

Getting through

Father Deimeke often meets people who need cash to get them through a tough situation that the CCN now can handle.

"It's very frequent that you'll get someone coming to your doorstep who says, 'I'm out of money,'" he said, but it's sometimes difficult to know whether or not someone who claims to need money is truly desperate.

He remembered one man who said his car had run out of gas and he needed to get to Saratoga. After Father Deimeke offered to buy him $5 in gas and a sandwich, the man told him that he had a half-tank of gas and wasn't hungry; he simply wanted money to buy alcohol. He thanked Father Deimeke for not giving him money.

Place to go

That type of scenario forces clergy members to make decisions that no longer will be necessary because they simply can refer such people to the CCN.

"We just don't have the skills to determine if this is a legitimate case, and we don't have the time to get the person the kind of service they need," Father Deimeke said. "I know there are a lot of people like that out there. I also know there are legitimate cases of people in need."

(The CCN, which also includes the Schenectady Inner City Ministry, Schenectady Community Action Program, Bethesda House and the Jewish community, currently has one full-time crisis intervention counselor but hopes to add two more by July. CCN, located at Bethesda House on Liberty Street in Schenectady, is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.)

(05-13-99) [[In-content Ad]]