BY PRISCILLA GREEAR

Staff Writer

ATLANTA--A representative of Project South of Atlanta described to members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society (SVDP) April 25 the economic hardships poor families are experiencing in the wake of recent welfare reform.

The SVDP volunteer education and training conference was held at St. Pius X High School in Atlanta.

Approximately 190 SVDP members and supporters from 45 parishes gathered to renew their spirit of Christian service and to discuss problems the poor face and ways to serve them more effectively.

Aishah Rashied, development director of Project South, reported that, according to the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority, to support a family of three in an adequate manner a worker must earn $13.33 an hour. Most former welfare recipients, she said, are in minimum wage jobs paying $4.75 an hour.

That salary is 24 percent below the poverty level for a family of three with one full-time worker, she said, and does not cover child care, children's clothing, dental care and other expenses.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families legislation passed in Georgia in 1997 limits cash assistance to a maximum of four years and helps U.S. citizens only.

"People who are coming off the welfare rolls are making minimum wage. If it's permanent jobs, not a temporary job, they're making about $5 an hour," Rashied said. Workers often do not have jobs providing medical coverage, she added, and some basic non-food items families need cannot be purchased with food stamps.

"We've got tens of thousand of people daily trying to handle these things in Georgia alone," Rashied said.

SVDP can help, she said, by distributing information on welfare laws, inviting state legislators and city council members to learn more about SVDP clients, and forming community groups to focus on these issues.

Abbie Illenberger, program director at Project South, encouraged attendees to meet and explore new ways to advocate for clients.

"When there have been efforts to try out new programs...it's happened because people like us got together. We were motivated, we were driven," she said. "A lot of times it means being a little bit outspoken. It means putting forward an unpopular opinion and taking risks."

Father John Anderson, a parochial vicar at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Alpharetta, encouraged participants to love as Christ did and see Christ in those they serve, particularly the outcast.

"(Christ's) mission is to let every person know that they too are God's beloved and that on them God's favor rests. ...We too are called to share, by way of our baptismal promise, that they are God's beloved," he said.

Dominican Sister Marie Sullivan, director of an Atlanta outreach center named in her honor, said that one must ask God's help to see the dignity of certain clients in need.

"Are we able to see the dignity of the person? I think we have to really look. That doesn't come by one's self," Sister Sullivan said. "I have to take time out every day and remember that I have a relationship with God. In order to really help someone, you have to look at them and you have to reach out and you have to really listen."

"As we reach out to help, we're not alone," she added. "The person we're helping has something to give to us as we give to them. And God is with us."

If a volunteer doesn't approve of a decision a client makes, the worker should not challenge it and should continue serving the person, Sister Sullivan said.

Alice Davis, a worker at the SVDP Doraville Thrift Store, told participants of her experience of homelessness. A resident for four months of the Nicholas House in Atlanta, she was then offered a job there and promoted to house manager.

The Doraville thrift store serves homeless clients, she said, some of whom have drug and alcohol problems, some who are unemployed or in need of financial counseling, and some who must accept that they are homeless in order to find help.

During the training day, SVDP members met in small groups to discuss situations they've experienced and how they can better help clients.

Maureen Alleyne, president of the conference at Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Decatur, spoke of the need to follow up with a woman recently assisted with rent.

"We have to find a way to continue following up with her," she said. "We have to make some sort of connection."

Ed Golden, president of the conference at St. Jude the Apostle, Atlanta, said the majority of the clients at the parish "are single parents and they never have enough money...In some cases the problem is no deeper than immediate assistance."

Carol Rouse, SVDP secretary at St. Patrick's Church, Norcross, said 100 people call weekly requesting money for rent, car repairs, gas, bus fare, medical care, funeral expenses and utilities.

"I think the biggest challenge for the client is that there's not enough affordable housing. (The cost of) rent and buying homes is going up and wages are not and that's a little scary. I think there needs to be more transitional housing," she said, adding that "it's been hard to pick out the people in need and the people who are playing the system."

Jean Brown of St. Michael the Archangel Church in Woodstock has worked with young mothers who are unable to afford medical expenses and said the biggest problem they face is depression.

According to Sister Mary Kay Finneran, SC, the spring conference serves to renew volunteers in their ministry so they can "go home with renewed spirit and energy... realizing that through the spiritual life they will have strength to continue."

Sister Finneran, who is SVDP education and training coordinator, said the Society has had a 13 percent increase in clients served in North Georgia from 1995 to 1997. She estimates that 50 percent of the 53,000 people served yearly are receiving welfare or are in low-wage jobs.

Alan Urech, SVDP council president, recognized Jim and Mary Burke of Holy Family Church, Marietta, and Loralee and the late Henry Goetz of the Church of the Transfiguration, Marietta, who received Top Hat Awards for outstanding service. Certificates of appreciation were given to 12 other Society members.