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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993                   TAG: 9311270056
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ASKING FOR HELP CAN BE THE HARDEST OF TASKS

Most of the people who go to Roanoke Area Ministries for help are living through hard times. They have had to deal with job loss, death, illness, money worries, legal problems and, sometimes, homelessness.

For some, the hardest time they have to go through is the moment they ask for help.

Jane (not her real name), 62, came to RAM in November looking for help with her rent. Jane has lived alone since her husband and her daughter died, both within the last four years.

She works as a licensed practical nurse. For a long time, she was able to make ends meet, even though she is responsible for thousands of dollars in medical bills.

But paying for the two illnesses left Jane without any savings.

Although she works 40-hour weeks and all the overtime she can, she missed making her car payments after she was hospitalized last year. The car was repossessed, and it took $550 to get it back. Without it, Jane said, she would have been unable to work.

Jane was in tears when she told her story to Dannie McLain, who screens applications for assistance. Although it was hard for her to discuss the deaths of her husband and daughter, having to ask for help seemed to upset her even more.

"It's hard to ask," she said. "It makes you feel inadequate."

Because there have been many requests for help this year, and because of budget cutbacks, in November the agency put a cap on what it can give out, McLain said. Jane was given only $65, which would not go far toward paying her $369 rent.

Because she has no young children and hasn't had a change in her income, Jane is ineligible for many programs, McLain said. But he did refer her to the Consumer Credit Counseling Service, which can help her deal with her creditors and better organize how she spends her money.

Jane is exactly the kind of person the Good Neighbors Fund was intended to help, he said. This one-time assistance may be enough to get her back on her feet.

should be made payable to Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.

Names - but not the amounts of donations - of contributors, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed. Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous.

by CNB