c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Tell Christene Dykes-Sorrells the economy is good, and she’ll beg to differ.

She’ll tell you about a 46-year-old working Chicago woman, who lives from minimum-wage paycheck to paycheck to support a teen-age daughter, pay bills, maintain a car, and fight her failing health. Or she’ll mention the man who used to donate clothes, appliances and money to Catholic Charities on a regular basis until he lost his job. Now he comes to them for help.

These are just two of the 7.9 million Americans who came to Catholic Charities agencies in 1996 _ the last year for which full statistics are available _ for emergency food and shelter, an increase of 11 percent over 1995, according to a report the group released Wednesday (Dec. 10) at a Washington news conference.

Catholic Charities USA is the nation’s largest private network of social service organizations, with more than 1,400 agencies, 283,000 staff members and volunteers. It supports homeless and needy families by providing food, shelter, financial assistance, counseling, adoption, education and job training.

According to the report, the agency served a total of 12.7 million in 1996,including the 7.9 million people needing emergency aid, up from 10.8 million in 1995. More than 5.6 million Americans came for food, up from 4.9 million in 1995.”The economy may be good for some people, but the faces I see are faces of people who are lost in the cracks,”said Dykes-Sorrells, director of the Emergency Assistance Program of Catholic Charities in Chicago.

Dykes-Sorrells said there is also a change in those seeking aid _ the people today are the working poor.”This is the first time I’ve seen the working poor because we usually see people on assistance,”Dykes-Sorrells said.”These aren’t people that are receiving assistance. These are people who are working hard. These are people getting minimum wage. But minimum-wage jobs in Chicago are not sufficient to meet the needs of living in Chicago.” Scot Adams of Omaha, Neb., executive director of that city’s Catholic Charities, tells a similar story:”Last month James and Ophelia visited our pantry. Their newborn baby was born with heart and kidney complications and needs surgery in six months. James was recently laid off from his job as a laborer in a downtown warehouse, and their daughter’s health-care problems have them worried, as you can imagine. This was their first time at a pantry, and they approached us with a mix of emotions: embarrassment, confusion, nervousness and fear.”It seems a shame to me that in this state where we can grow 300-pound (football) lineman, in this heartland of the richest country in the history of the world, that Catholic Charities is still called upon to feed hungry people, to innovate means to stretch food dollars and to direct the public’s attention once again to hunger in America,”he said.

According to Catholic Charities, the need is everywhere.”The need for food is increasing, not only in large urban centers such as Los Angeles, Boston and Washington, D.C., but also in suburban and rural areas such as Long Island, N.Y.; Davenport, Iowa; Portland, Maine; and Fresno, Calif.,”said the Rev. Fred Kammer, president of Catholic Charities USA.”No matter what the holiday season, poverty is not going away,”he added.

Kammer called on the government to increase funding for emergency food and shelter, provide adequate health care for families, and to increase the minimum wage. Others called on volunteers and other groups to help out.”Legislate and be aware that the needs are out there,”Dykes-Sorrells said.”We (Catholic Charities) are not going to be able to feed everybody. And you never know. We are all just a paycheck away. The Bible says what you sow, you shall also reap. Just give.”

MJP END IRVIN