Newsletter: May 2023
Dear Friends of Joseph House:
Our mission at the Joseph House is to help people in crisis situations, no matter what their needs may be. It doesn’t matter if it’s rent or an electric bill or medical care or anything else—if we can verify the need, and we have the means to help, we go ahead and do so.
Many years ago, our founder, Sr. Mary Elizabeth, thought it would be a marvelous idea to help people avoid a crisis in the first place. She had met a number of people who, because of age or infirmity, could not look after their own affairs. They frequently found themselves without heat or electricity in their homes, and sometimes even homeless, because they could not manage their own money. This is a skill not to be taken for granted. It is especially important for people on fixed or low incomes since there is no margin for error.
Fortunately, Sr. Mary Elizabeth had the foresight to get the Joseph House involved with a program that can help people who are challenged in this way. It is called the Representative Payee program, and once again here is Sr. Virginia to explain how it works:
The Representative Payee program was instituted by Social Security to help people who are unable to manage their finances on their own. The Joseph House is authorized to act as a Representative Payee, with the services carried out by our volunteers.
Typically, the payee client is an elderly person receiving Social Security, or a younger person on Social Security disability. A special payee bank account is set up and arrangements are made for the client’s Social Security payments to be deposited in that account. The payee volunteer writes the checks, but the checks are signed by designated Little Sisters.
In short, a client agrees to surrender control of his or her money to the Joseph House, so that our payee volunteer can pay the bills and make sure there is an ample amount of spending money left over for the client. One of our sisters is the payee administrator, and several remarkable people act as payee volunteers.
Paying bills isn’t always the whole story, though. Although we strive to keep the clients’ expenses low so they can manage on their small incomes, we often provide extra food, clothing and household items for them and sometimes even appliances and furniture that they couldn’t afford. Transportation is often a challenge, and some payee volunteers take their client grocery shopping or arrange for rides to doctor appointments.
Our payee clients have had a variety of needs and challenges:
For decades we helped a woman with some mental illness, much of that time acting as her representative payee. She rented a small house and kept it clean and neat. Unfortunately, she had an addicted and abusive son whom she feared but also dearly loved. Our payee volunteer went to court with her to get a restraining order against him, only to see her withdraw her complaint at the last minute. When he went so far as to lock her out of her house and sell her appliances, she finally had to leave her home and go into assisted living. Our sisters continued to visit and take her to church and shopping. She celebrated her birthday with us at our convent each year.
A blind woman was in our payee program for many years. Shockingly, her adult son and daughter would steal her food when they came to visit. Undaunted, her payee volunteer started storing the food in a locked cabinet, dispensing enough for the woman to eat each day. For a special treat, the volunteer would take her out to Baskin-Robbins for black cherry ice cream.
We had a husband and wife as payee clients who had been on disability most of their lives. Their ability to read and write was very limited. The husband was an avid fisherman and gardener who would regularly offer us fresh fish and green beans. He fished from a canoe, and at his request one of our volunteers transported it in his pickup truck to a remote location by a river. After the husband died, the wife became more infirm. She is now in a nursing home, where one of our sisters continues to visit her, helping her send out holiday cards and framing her photos. Two of the photos are of her beloved guinea pig, who couldn’t join her in the nursing home and went to live with a foster family we found for her.
The people in our Representative Payee program gain more than a well-managed checkbook: they get the comfort of knowing they are not alone in facing their problems and difficulties, which find us no matter how carefully we handle our resources. That is why the assistance programs at the Joseph House Crisis Center will always be needed. Hardships can hit anyone.
We frequently encounter people at the Crisis Center when they are feeling vulnerable. Jeffrey had tears in his eyes when he spoke about his young daughter. A rare medical disorder required her to go to a hospital a two hour drive away. Jeffery had a photo of her in her hospital bed, hooked up to tubes and IVs. He was feeling the terrible anguish of being helpless to stop the suffering of a loved one. Jeffrey works as a cab driver, but the regular trips to see his daughter left little time for him to work and he was behind in his rent. We paid the amount due of $350 and also gave Jeffrey a voucher for gasoline. He called a few weeks later and shared the tragic news: the doctors could not save his daughter. Though she is now free from all suffering, loss is always hard. Often the only way to help is to listen and pray. May his beloved child rest in peace.
Myra, 49, is raising her infant grandson because his parents have chosen not to. Myra is currently receiving unemployment benefits but will return to work shortly as a waitress in a beachside restaurant. The water was turned off in her home and she was greatly concerned about properly caring for her grandson. Myra hopes to obtain legal custody of him. We paid the bill of $234.
Ladonna, 60, has a deteriorating spine and cannot work. She is waiting for her disability claim to be approved. In the meantime, she receives only $328 in temporary monthly benefits. How can anyone survive on that? Ladonna had a cut-off notice from the water department. We sent in a payment of $350.
Robin, 40, was excited to get a warehouse job with an online retailer, but her hours have been cut and are no longer full-time. Getting a second job is difficult because her car has a broken transmission; repairs are out of the question at this point. Adding to her stress are several payday loans which now total $3,500—the interest rates are sky-high and she hasn’t been able to pay down the principal. Robin was late in paying her rent and had five days to pay the balance due or else she and her three children would become homeless. We paid $278 so that would not happen.
Many people rely on the Joseph House for the basic necessities of life. We in turn rely on you to help us meet their needs. Thank you for your continued support—you do more good than you realize. With our heartfelt gratitude,
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary
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“A woman by her very nature is maternal—for every woman, whether married or unmarried, is called upon to be a biological, psychological, or spiritual mother. She knows intuitively that to give, to nurture, to care for others, to suffer with and for them—for maternity implies suffering—is infinitely more valuable in God’s sight than to conquer nations and fly to the moon.”
-Alice von Hildebrand