Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230128
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Caseworkers screen applicants, act as liaisons between the needy and the charities that are set up to help them, and often provide an ear for people who need to talk to someone about their troubles.
New this year is a children's literacy program sponsored by the Literacy Volunteers. It helps children with their homework when their parents, who are often illiterate themselves, cannot.
The program, which began in September, has started slowly, Dillard said, with just five children attending. Three of those children belong to Pam (not her real name), a longtime client of the center.
She and her family have become a pet project for the center's staff.
Pam is 28, bright and appealing, but practically unemployable because she has a seventh-grade education and cannot read or write well.
"She's never really had a chance," Dillard said.
Her parents were alcoholics, Pam said, and she dropped out of school because no one at home cared whether she went or not. After a while, she just didn't go.
"I really wish I had now," she said.
Her children are happy, active and well-behaved. The eldest makes straight A's in school and is planning to go to college.
Pam first came to the center when her first child was born. Her husband was in prison, and there was no money for diapers or formula.
Things were better for the couple later on, however. Until they separated earlier this year, her husband was able to support the family on his salary, while Pam stayed home with the children.
When he left, she had to apply for Aid to Families with Dependent Children, food stamps and rent assistance. She also received money from the Good Neighbors Fund, but she doesn't like taking charity.
"It makes me feel bad," she said. "I don't know why."
All of the children's clothes and school supplies come from the center, Dillard said. They aren't expecting much for Christmas, Pam said. "They're used to it."
Despite her lack of education, Pam is good at budgeting. The family gets about $100 a month in food stamps per person, and Pam is careful to buy wholesome foods that will last.
"I work at it a lot," she said. "We make do with what we have."
Pam is eager to improve her skills and find a job. "I want to work and support our family and do for myself," she said.
Checks should be made payable to the Good Neighbors Fund and mailed to Roanoke Times & World-News, P.0. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not amounts of donations - of contributing businesses, individuals or organizations, as well as memorial and honorific designations, will be listed in the newspaper. Those requesting that their names not be used will remain anonymous. If no preference is stated, the donor's name will be listed.
Gifts cannot be earmarked for any particular individual or family. Gifts are tax-deductible.
Tuesday's contributors included:
James and Christine White
Betty Stanley, in honor of Mr. and Mrs. N.W. Hunt and in memory of Etna and Eldridge Hunt
Eleanor M. Caskey
Mrs. Robert T. Pickett Jr.
Mrs. Albert E. Echols, in memory of Albert
Hazel W. Parsell
Jimmy and JoAnn Michael, in memory of Gray Nininger Michael
"Al" and Sallie Meador, in memory of their loved ones
Mr. and Mrs. Henry D. Harmon, in memory of their son, Henry Harmon Jr.
Old Colony Box Co. Inc.
Patricia B. Good, in memory of her dad, Willie B. Good
Louise S. Beale, in memory of Clarence Beale
Al and Jean Blackwell
Toni J. Crump and sons
Robert and Elizabeth Fetter
Isabel R. Porterfield
Ann and Manuel Sowers
Mary Chapman, in memory of Ethel V. Wood
Marvin Robinson
Anne Somers Bailey, in memory of Somers and Mary Virginia Bailey
V. Anne Edenfield, in memory of her father and grandparents
Jan and Mickey Dowling, in honor of Trudy Hendricks and Jeff and Karla Wendell
Roth and Mary Alice Rose, in memory of their parents
George E. Wade
Eldon C. Grover, in memory of Mary M. Huntington
Janice C. Wright
ANONYMOUS DONATIONS $525
SUBTOTAL $1,700
TOTAL AS OF 11/22/94 $1,700
by CNB