Emergency Assistance

During 2007, 10,609 adults and children received assistance with food for 139,158 meals and over $76,800.00 in financial help with utilities, rent, car repairs, prescriptions, work clothes, school supplies, car insurance, gas money, tools etc. through the Emergency Assistance program at Catholic Charities in Clark , Champaign and Logan Counties . The 12-month goal for Emergency Assistance was to serve 15,000 adults and children.

In the Spring of 2007, 500 families participated in a renewed study to better understand the needs of our clients. This study included information on how many people live in each household,  average incomes (without food stamps), how many times pantries are visited in the past year, education level, specific services they needed to prevent repeated pantry use, as well as what conditions made them come to the pantry in the first place.

Our study found that 60% of our clients live on $750.00 a month or less. Underemployment, low-paying jobs, and higher utility bills have all been cited by our clients as problems that have caused them to need emergency assistance. A majority of respondents noted that they were forced to come to the food pantry because they either ran out of food or ran out of money to buy food.

Providing food supplies and emergency assistance with utilities, prescriptions, rent, clothing, school supplies, diapers, transportation, car repair, etc., helps many families in meeting their basic human needs. Case management, work experience, and counseling are provided for families needing additional services.

Short-term clients receive direct assistance and services that will allow them to meet their basic human needs as noted in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Once they have their food, clothing, and shelter needs taken care of they can move on to tackling their long-term needs. All clients who come to us for short-term help can receive assistance in filling out Food Stamp and Medical Card applications if they are eligible and are not currently participating in these programs.

Long-term clients differ somewhat from our other emergency assistance clients. About 40% of the participants in our emergency assistance program receive Social Security Disability, Social Security, or SSI benefits. These “long-term” clients have worked all their lives and just need some assistance. The remaining 60% of our clients receive follow-up support to them access the services they need.

According to the article “Relationship between hunger and psychosocial functioning in low-income American children” in the Journal of American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (Feb., 1998) “children who are classified as hungry are more likely to have mood and attention problems and more likely to be absent from school than poor children who are classified as not hungry.”

An article published by the USDA/ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine noted that “children who eat breakfast have been shown to get higher grades and are less likely to be described as depressed, anxious, fidgety, or irritable by parents and teachers.” “They also think faster and more clearly, concentrate better, suffer less fatigue, and are less likely to end up in the nurse's office complaining of tummy aches and dizziness.”

It is also a commonly accepted fact that adults who are hungry do not perform well at work or within the community. Children and adults who are unable to take their medications increase health care costs (which puts an added stress on the community's resources) and can cause injuries at work and while driving.

According to the study, the typical participants are as follows:

Age: 0-12 months 3.5%; 1-17 years 43.5%; 18-59 years 47%; 60+ 6%.

Monthly Income: $0-$250 – 20.8%; $251-$500 – 11.8%; $501-$750 – 26.5%; $751-$1,000 – 20.1%

Education: 1st grade – 11th grade – 52%; 12th grade 30.3%

Source of Income: 45% - working poor; 35% - some sort of Social Security benefits; – 14.9% - welfare

The emergency assistance program is important for many families because they can receive help to get them thru a temporary problem and also get help to address long-term issues. Over 45% of clients only use services 1 – 4 times a year to help them through a rough time so that they can remain self-sufficient. These clients want to stay away from and out of the welfare system. They no longer want to be a part of it.