By Rita McInerney

For almost 12 years, The Place in Cumming has been a lively center where poor and low-income people in Forsyth County find help and opportunity -- help in emergencies, when the money runs out, and opportunity to work for what they are given.

It is also the place they come to for counseling, instruction and for that necessary companionship and human warmth to offset the isolation of country lives.

Formally known as Rural Social Services, this branch of Catholic Social Services is among agencies sharing funds from the annual Charities Drive. For fiscal year 1987-88, it is allocated $67,135.

Housed in a frame bungalow along Pirkle Ferry Road, a block from the business section of Cumming, The Place, according to Sister June Racicot, OP, who, with Sister Kathryn Cliatt, OP, directs the agency, operates on a "no interest, cash, little at a time payback system" for clients receiving food, clothing and loans for electricity.

The center offers the people served the chance to be creative or domestic in paying off their debts. Each hour worked in the wood or craft shop, in washing dishes, cooking, working in the thrift store, or vacuuming and dusting, is credited to their account. It's "our alternative to giveaway," explained Mary Julia Orr, the social worker everyone calls "M. J."

"We try and create an atmosphere where people feel accepted and wanted, where they can build up their self image," Sister Racicot said. "The payback system makes people feel good about themselves."

As the day begins at 9 a.m., staffers and clients gear up for their tasks with coffee or Coke. "M. J." offers coffee to the visitor while Ralph Lynn, 71, and Rich Farr head out to the woodworking shop in the building behind the bungalow. Lynn has been around the center for 10 years and his late wife, Eula, worked as unofficial manager of the thrift shop until her death. He helps Farr, woodcraft shop manager, show clients how to cut, carve, sand and stain the sturdy pegged shelved, toy chests, cradles, and decorative wall ornaments to be sold next door at the craft shop. Next door, Judy Hotle, director of crafts, supervises the women in stitching bonnets, soft dolls, teddy bears, placemats and hot pads sold at the shop. Ms. Hotle, a volunteer for five years, joined the staff last May.

A large quilt hangs on the craft shop wall but there are few quilters left. The older women still able to do the fine stitching work from home, by order only, Sister Racicot said.

The craftspeople receive a percentage of the sales price of the items they make, if they have paid back for services received. Their share, Sister Racicot said, is determined by whether they supplied the material or whether The Place did.

There is general counseling on family and budget, Sister Racicot said, but "anything serious we refer out to the local mental health agency and to local ministers with counseling degrees." There is advocacy, also, with a lawyer from Georgia Legal Services available once a month to assist with troubling problems involving law.

They are seeing more and more young families, Sister Racicot said. Even though both husband and wife work, they can't make it without help. Lacking in skills and education, the only jobs open to them are low-paying. This is despite the fact that the unemployment rate in Forsyth is a low 3.7 percent and "there are jobs out there."

The Place, she said, also helps a lot single parents on Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Many of these women want to work but such jobs as are open to them don't include health care coverage. "They have no motivation to get off welfare."

An innovative program is the cash-match fuel fund which has about 15 families participating. Starting in July, they bring in $25 each month for deposit in a special bank account. Then, when the fuel company comes to fill their tanks, they have enough money accumulated to pay for the delivery. If they are short of the cash, the needed sum will be advanced them. Since most can only afford so much each month for fuel, and since the fuel company will only deliver in large tank-loads, 100 or more gallons at a time, the fuel fund is proving a big help.

This application in managing money is part of the counseling in family and budgeting available from staff members. Staffers are also available to help people get their Graduation Equivalency Diplomas.

Several sin-off projects illustrate the success of the agency in helping people motivate themselves. One client, concerned about the lack of family health care for low-income people, asked Sister Cliatt how to go about starting a facility. With community help, a clinic was opened in a double-wide trailer with a volunteer doctor. Now the fully staffed Wilson Clinic operates out of a modern building, built with funds from the Appalachian Regional Commission.

A car rental service administered by The Place is a spin-off from the Wilson Clinic. Clinic administrators realized the need for such rented equipment among the families served at the health care facility. Other spin-offs are the Forsyth County Medicine Fund which operates on donations, and the latest, an overnight family shelter, Sojourners House, Inc. This was started by a board formed of Place staffers and local ministers and is housed in a double-wide trailer donated by the Presbyterian Church. It has five small bedrooms, kitchen, dining and living rooms.

All of the spin-off projects illustrate the success of one of the goals of The Place: "We hope to get the community involved, since the community is responsible," Sister Racicot said.

A successful activity for the children is the summer tutorial program taught by young adults from Holy Spirit parish in Atlanta who come each Saturday during the summer months, and once a month all year around. They take the children on hikes, hold parties for special times, and help the rural youngsters experience interesting things outside the normal scope of their lives.

The sense of community at The Place is important, Sister Racicot said, since such spirit can be lacking in the isolated rural areas where many of their clients live. Friendships grow when people work together and share meals together. Eating together is what most of the clients and several people from the neighborhood enjoy each day The Place is open. The midday meal is prepared from donated food and is free to "anyone who comes in the door."

Conversation sometimes touches on the race issue in Forsyth County, Sister Racicot said, but "people are careful what they say," in consideration of views of staff members.

The staff, Sister Racicot added, has met for a workshop with Glenmary Father Gerry Conroy, from the Southeast Center for Justice in Atlanta, and plans to work at building better race relationships.

(The Place in Cumming is open daily except Thursday and Sunday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. for anyone interested in shopping for handcrafts and handmade wooden ornaments and small pieces of furniture.)