By Paula Day

A team effort to help the needy in Athens is paying off.

St. Joseph's Charities and the Athens office of Catholic Social Services (CSS) work in tandem to give assistance to people in five counties of northeastern Georgia.

The charities office takes care of immediate, emergency needs of the poor such as food, clothing and utility bills. CSS addresses long-range problems to help people secure stability in their lives. This may involve job training, financial planning or helping members of the Hispanic community with naturalization and legalization. Together the two agencies have helped hundreds: St. Joseph's Charities in its 14-year history and Catholic Social Services since it opened its Athens office in 1985.

St. Joseph's parish in Athens, made up of 1,200 households, supports both programs with money, food and rent-free office space. The Charities' annual budget of $26,000 comes from parish contributions.

In 1991 the Charities staff, chairman Roger Stroer and 11 other active volunteers saw 910 people and made 180 home visits. The distributed 455 bags of food and 75 Christmas food baskets. They referred their clients to other agencies in the city, acted as advocates, did errands for the elderly and those without transportation.

Behind the statistics are the one-on-one encounters that uncover the human faces of the needy. One member of St. Joseph's Charities worked with an elderly widow who fiercely valued her independence and would allow no one to come into her home. Through patient dialogue, he finally convinced the woman to let him pay her bills and when it was clear she could no longer care for herself, he found a rest home she could afford and continued to visit her there. When she died he took care of the funeral arrangements.

A parishioner befriended an 18-year-old single mother, seven months pregnant with her second child who came to St. Joseph's Charities for help. A victim of neglect by her own mother, the girl had grown up in foster homes. The parishioner took her into her home and arranged for her to be part of the Midwife Program in which a licensed midwife befriends the pregnant woman and delivers the baby.

Sometimes helping means being available to listen and give emotional support as well as practical assistance. For several years a member of St. Joseph's Charities has stood by a mother of five, who has gone through the trauma of being evicted from her home, unemployment, family illness and a teenaged son dropping out of school and running away from home. Through friendship she has been able to counsel the woman, allowing her to gain some perspective in spite of her continual problems.

There are opportunities for the entire parish to help. In addition to a monthly collection at Mass, parishioners participate in a "food bag" drive. Volunteers had grocery bags with attached lists of items to fill them. Parishioners return the filled bags. They also gather food and gifts for Thanksgiving baskets. Schoolchildren fill baskets at Christmas and children in the school of religion do the same in February.

The parish gives substantial help to the CSS regional office, paying the utility bills for the trailer used as home base by the staff of two. Its facilities are available for meetings and classes. St. Joseph's School helps out, allowing CSS to use classrooms and equipment.

Father Peter Dora, pastor of St. Joseph's, commented, "I am proud and gratified to be associated with a parish which has such a long-standing commitment to the poor."

Margaret Portillo-Bell directs the CSS office and Marisol Del Aquila is office assistant. They supervise student interns from the University of Georgia. This year Mrs. Portillo-Bell hopes to increase a "too small" $48,000 budget to $57,000 with the help of grant money and in-kind donations.

Job training has become a priority as the recession lingers. Mrs. Portillo-Bell, how is bilingual, also works extensively with the Hispanic community in smoothing the way for naturalization and legalization and as an interpreter and advocate. University students tutor classes in English and in preparation for the General Equivalency Diploma.

St. Joseph's parish has roots bedded in the last century when the Savannah diocese embraced the entire state, visiting a handful of Catholics in Athens in 1873 and missionary priests saying Mass on a regular basis. The first resident priest was assigned there in 1910.

The Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart opened an elementary school in 1949 and the Religious of the congregation of the Immaculate Hart of Mary took it over in 1968. In 1974 the parish numbered 600 households, a population that has doubled in 18 years. The parish covers Clarke, Madison and Oglethorpe counties. CSS serves Jackson and Oconee counties as well.

The parish population is diverse. In addition to various ethnic groups, including people from the Orient and Latin America, there are parishioners from Nigeria, the Philippines, Spain, Germany and Poland. The presence of the University of Georgia and the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School brings additional variety to the community.

Athens is the seat for Clarke County, the smallest of Georgia's 159 counties. It is situated in the rolling hills of northeastern Georgia. In addition to being a center of higher education, agriculture and industry add to its economic base.