ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 10, 1995 TAG: 9512110003
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: The Good Neighbors Fund
SOURCE: BETSY BIESENBACH STAFF WRITER
Peggy (not her real name) is a welfare-reform advocate's dream. This fall, she found a part-time job and went off Aid to Families with Dependent Children.
"I enjoy working," she said. "My kids are in school all day. Why sit at home and do nothing?"
Unfortunately, her newfound independence has made her worse off financially than ever before. She still gets food stamps and subsidized housing, but she receives no support from her children's father, and her job pays only slightly more than AFDC did. Almost her entire paycheck goes toward bills.
But the real problem is that all three of her children have illnesses that require expensive medications, and because she is off the welfare rolls, they no longer will be covered by Medicaid after the first of the year.
For the past several years, Peggy has depended on the Presbyterian Community Center for help with clothing and groceries. This fall, she received a grant from the Roanoke Area Ministries emergency financial assistance program, which is supported by the Good Neighbors Fund, to help pay her electric bill. She got another grant through the center for some of the children's medications.
But the program is meant to provide one-time assistance, not ongoing help, and Peggy is not sure where she will turn next.
"I'm going through some problems," she acknowledged. She'd like to file for bankruptcy, she said, if she could scrape together the money to pay for it.
What keeps Peggy going is the desire to keep her family together. She is a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for the past two years. Her children were taken from her during that time, and she only recently got them back.
Spending time in foster care was hard on them all, Peggy said, but despite their problems, the children are well-behaved and obedient.
Peggy's parents were alcoholics, too, she said. Her own childhood was not easy, and she wants something better for her kids.
"I want to be able to train my kids up right and see them growing up," she said. "I won't ever let them go again."
Checks made payable to the Good Neighbors Fund should be mailed to The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 1951, Roanoke 24008.
Names - but not donation amounts - 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.
LENGTH: Medium: 52 linesby CNB