Jun 09, 2009
Economic woes: The Chapter sees growing needs for financial help
Debra Maas doesn’t need the daily newspaper to remind her that the country is in a recession and that people are suffering.
As the coordinator of client services for the Greater Washington Chapter, she sees it every morning.
She gets so many requests from those in need – via mail, phone and fax – that she relies on a team of volunteers to help her sort through them all.
The number of financial assistance requests from those facing evictions, utility shut-offs and other hardships are up 20 percent over a year ago. Assistance amounts provided by the Chapter are up 25 percent.
“We have more people coming to us, and the help they need is greater than it has ever been,” she says.
People have lost their jobs, have had their work hours cut or have lost insurance benefits, Debra says. “We have always helped people struggling to make ends meet. Now there are more people in this struggle, and it’s getting so much harder for those who were having a tough time already.”
Debra and her “amazing” volunteers review each request, sometimes referring people to other Chapter programs and services and always looking for available resources beyond the Chapter.
“We’ve become quite good at helping people connect to other resources and making sure that
our help really is meeting a need no one else out there can provide,” she says.
That’s been particularly true in recent months as the National MS Society and other nonprofit organizations face increasing fundraising challenges.
At the Chapter, donations from some sources are down this year. Anticipating lower revenues, the Chapter has decreased overall spending, while protecting financial assistance as much as possible.
“We are hearing from more and more people who don’t know where else to go,” Debra says.
“Many have already been turned away from other sources of support.”
Susan Hoddinott of Morton says the Chapter’s help got her farming family through their worst winter ever. Freezing and flooding left them without water for six weeks, destroyed their barn and feed for their livestock, and left their fields covered with rocks.
Many of the medications Susan takes for her MS and other health problems aren’t covered by insurance. She receives Social Security Disability, and she and her husband both work part time, but things are “pretty unbelievably lean.”
The utility assistance provided by the Chapter kept the lights and heat on and freed up money for other necessities, she says. “It took a lot of the stress away and showed us in the clinch that there are people who will help. It got us over hopelessness.”
IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW needs financial assistance, call the Chapter at 1-800-344-4867 and press 1.