THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, January 29, 1995 TAG: 9501270214
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARK DUROSE, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines
For young families trying to balance a budget for the first time, help may be a phone call away.
The Virginia Cooperative Extension Office has an office at the Municipal Center that will help people avoid financial trouble, especially when they've piled up too much credit card debt.
The office operates as a subsidiary of Virginia Tech and was instituted for the purpose of educating young and old alike in necessary living skills. While it provides a variety of services across the state, including sponsoring 4H Clubs, the emphasis in Virginia Beach is to provide free financial counseling.
``The services we provide mirror the needs of the community we're in,'' said Doris Trant, who runs the office. ``And here, financial problems seem to be quite commonplace. Our main mission is education, and the strengthening and stabilizing of families. So we try to help young families with balancing their budgets, to get them headed for a sound financial future instead of heading toward easy credit, bad debt and bankruptcy.''
To fulfill her mission, Trant developed the Master Finance Counseling Program 2 1/2 years ago to train volunteers in credit counseling. The office will begin its third annual training program for prospective volunteers March 8. The training requires a commitment of two days a week for eight weeks.
``This is a 100 percent volunteer driven program,'' said Trant.
During the past two training sessions, 47 people were inducted. Of those, 32 are involved in active counseling - counseling that has been offered to 105 clients via the office, 300 individuals through public workshops and demanded 5,000 volunteer hours of effort.
``The typical people who show up excited and enthusiastic are civic-minded individuals who want to make a difference in the community and who have a solid history in managing cash flow and communicating with others,'' Trant said.
``We have retired CEOs, retired military officers, teachers, bankers. They're mostly very seasoned and mature, with lots of life experience,'' she said.
Skip Schweizer, a semi-retired engineer and Kempsville resident, is one volunteer who certainly brings his share of experience. Schweizer busies himself with several volunteer positions that involve counseling in addition to the Master Finance Counseling Program.
``I got involved two years ago because I've always liked personal finance management,'' Schweizer said. ``I always get a real sense of personal satisfaction in showing other people how to plan for the future. I like raising their consumer awareness and reinforcing their family values at the same time.''
Schweizer has contributed many hours to marketing the program as well as doing one-on-one counseling.
``It's a very worthwhile program, but, regrettably, not many people know it's here, or that it's free. But what we teach are necessary requirements. It's the kind of thing your parents should have taught you, or your teachers in high school, but somehow that doesn't happen and we fill in the gaps of information.''
Schweizer sees the program more as a ``life management'' course than a financial one. ``My greatest enjoyment comes from seeing the people apply the information given them, enhance the quality of their lives and actually feel better about themselves.''
On the other end of the counseling equation, but just as satisfying, is Cheryl Ellenwood. Now 26, she and her husband, Paul, came to the program a year and a half ago, about the time their daughter, Kayla, turned 1. The Ellenwoods were getting all their bills paid, but weren't able to save anything when Cheryl saw a flier for the program at work.
``I was thinking about college for Kayla,'' she said. ``We also wanted to buy a house so that our daughter could have a yard, a swing set and everything that goes with that.''
Cheryl Ellenwood contacted the office and a counselor began paying calls on the young couple at home. ``He made us write up a budget and see where we were wasting money.
``After three months, seeing where our money was going, we were able to pay off and cancel all but one credit card out of seven, and were able to save enough for a down payment on our house,'' she said.
The Ellenwoods now have their house in Pine Meadows, with the yard for their daughter, but that's not all. Instead of owing more than $5,000 in debt, with less than $100 in savings, they have approximately $3,000 in savings and almost no debt.
Cheryl Ellenwood had nothing but praise for the program and its helpful volunteers. ``Our counselor was wonderful. If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have a house, or the savings, and I'd probably be having a lot more problems with credit cards. It was amazing to me, how, with their help, what our potential was, once we saw how to use it properly.'' MEMO: Anyone interested in volunteering, or receiving assistance, please
contact Doris Trant at 427-4769.
by CNB