More Requests for Help & Less Available

We're getting hit hard by more requests for financial assistance at the church. After the hottest summer on record in the southeast all the power bills are coming due. The utility companies have run out of patience. People are getting desperate. More people who have minimum wage jobs are now unable to pay their power bill and their rent. And more people are working those jobs after they have lost a better paying position.

Over the last three years the wave of requests has increased each year. I can remember thinking when it first hit that it was awful as folk lost jobs and homes. The middle class got squeezed hard. The poor got poorer. More people fighting over fewer jobs is a tough recipe.

Then two years ago it seemed like it intensified again. The requests hit a new level with even more people looking for help. More middle class and professional types found themselves in situations they'd never encountered before and had never worried about. Foreclosures and "walk aways" in middle class neighborhoods change the values of existing homes so that what starts as a reasonable investment 5 years ago is now "underwater."

How long can it go on? Now I'm beginning to wonder if this will take years to get through. Or is it perhaps the "new normal?"

In the last month it seems like we've hit yet another level of requests for financial help. I get more interruptions each day with the phone call or walk in. I always ask about family, church, anyone who can help. They've already gone to those sources and are now more desperate. There's more shame, more guilt, more despair, more tears and trembling.

Even though we've tried to use our money wisely and send most of it with local organizations that specialize in helping folk we find more people are falling "in the gaps." If you are a single adult with no children, or if you aren't yet in the elderly category, and if you don't have a disability... well you better not go through a divorce, or lose insurance, or lose a job for long, or have any sort of emergency with your vehicle or some big price tag item in your life.

Tough times seem to be getting tougher. While many church folk are extremely generous and give to such "compassion concerns" it seems like the numbers requesting assistance just continue to grow. In Augusta/Richmond County GA the estimates based on census data say 21% of the population makes less than $25,000 a year. That's 10,738 households.

While a good 24% of the population in Richmond County gives over $200 per year to a church, not all churches help with such requests. The local United Methodist Children's Home office assists families in need, and saw an 11% increase in requests for assistance the last fiscal year (ending September) while experiencing a decrease of available funds. I heard of another social service group that had what was, in the past, a funding amount for 3 years that was used in 18 months due to the increased need. Similar stories are shared from other partner groups as well. Add to this that state and federal government are sharing less funding for such social needs and it's a nasty community drama being played out.

Interfaith Hospitality Network of Augusta makes use of churches to house homeless families and provide the necessary support services to help a family stabilize and return to housing and independence. Currently there are 156 families already qualified to enter the program and on the waiting list! The current needs and request for assistance are staggering.

How does your church or nonprofit ministry meet the needs in the community with less available funding? Most organizations have gone from streamlining 3 years ago, to cutting positions and ministries, and are merely hoping to survive. How do you deal with more requests for assistance when there is less funding available? How can we best stabilize families and communities even as there is less funding available?

I'm recalling those New Testament miracle stories when the people would gather their meager resources, Jesus in their midst would offer a blessing, and the needs of the crowds would be met. Lord, let that happen again today as your Kingdom seeks to be expressed on earth in these tough days!

Cost Cutters AND Mission Enhancers?

While the economy pervades the news I still don't see as many GREAT IDEAS on cost cutting and organizational reorientation as I would have expected. As we settle into what appears to be a more long term "new economy" I'm starting to see more reports of lifestyle and organizational changes which will make economic and cultural differences. Some actions, such as dropping phone land lines for cell phones, seem to be the new norm.

An article from the NY Times shares some intriguing actions on college campuses which save money without compromising the mission. In fact, some of these moves appear to enhance student education. Ever heard of the WooCorps?! Check out some of my favorite university cost cutters:

- "Virtual Swim Meets"- where competing universities swim in their own pool, against the clock, and then compare times, without traveling to a swim meet.

- Some schools have cut out their "free" laundry service! I had no idea any universities offered such things. :) This is a worthy education and cost cutter if ever there was one.

- This is one of my favorites. "Cafeterias, too, are saving money, cutting food waste and reducing hot-water and detergent costs by eliminating trays. When Whittier began “Trayless Tuesdays” last fall, lunchtime food waste dropped to 4.6 ounces per student from 7.4 ounces — and the college saved almost $30,000 a semester after going fully trayless in the spring."

- In similar fashion many schools have returned to tap water and dropped bottled water.

- Another favorite move saves money and gives students work experience. "Rhodes College in Memphis economizes — and gives students work experience — by hiring students in 25 professional staff positions, saving $725,000 a year. And the College of Wooster in Ohio is trying to hold on to financially struggling students, and their tuition dollars, by offering minimum-wage summer jobs in its “WooCorps,” which has almost 200 students painting rooms, landscaping and growing vegetables this summer. WooCorps students will get an extra $1,000 in their financial aid packages — and help the college complete more maintenance projects than usual."

Now I'm curious how Christianity might benefit from such thinking and actions. Do you know of any actions taken by a church, denomination, or the Church which is a cost cutter while maintaining or enhancing the mission? I'm not looking for mere budget slashing, but for ways of saving money AND creatively fulfilling or even growing ministries. Let me know what you think.

Find the full article at Higher Ed Cost Cutters

Recycle and Reuse

Another news item from Sunday night, and a man after my own heart. He salvages what others have thrown away.

Dumpster Diving

Multigenerational Homes

Did you catch the NBC nightly News Sunday evening? Turns out that multigenerational homes are making a comeback in this economy. They save on the expenses of home owndership, plus lots of practical savings and mutual support with grandparents, extended family, parents, and children in one home. The news said their are 2.8 million multigenerational homes now which is the most in 3 decades.

Home

A Lenten Economy and Return to Basics

Sorry to be so absent, but the day job is hyper busy these days.

Of course, the big news item these days is the state of the global economy, and all the ramifications of the pendulum swing which is taking us back to something more sustainable and likely closer to what "normal" should look like. A week ago one report shared that "Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Tuesday the current global recession will 'surely be the longest and deepest' since the 1930s and more government rescue funds are needed to stabilize the U.S. financial system." http://recession.org/news/worst-recession-since-1930s

Hmmm, what to do? Do we keep on living like we always have in our families, businesses, churches, etc?

I keep wondering what meaningful ministry in the church and in a community context must become in the next year/s or so. It seems to me that some things are going to need to change. Key issues will relate to the basics of life- employment, housing, food, and the attendant needs during a time of change for peace of mind, peace, and hope.

I've noticed more discussion from the experts and in general media about "getting back to basics" and a necessary return to those things which are most essential in our lives. It makes sense in Lent to apply such a focus and discipline upon the Christian life and the congregational/denominational life as well. And I suppose that such a movement isn't a retreat into individualism, but will actually result in that Depression era approach my extended family talks about of everyone working hard AND helping ALL the neighbors realizing we're all in this mess together!

So, it's time to take some steps back off the build up of the last 70 years. It's time to refocus our lives, to quite depending so much on our riches and find again our dependence upon God. Perhaps the biggest challenge will come to the denomination and church to find this old way as we practice a Lenten discipline, discover God in a Lenten economy, and return to the basics of life and faith. This won't be easy, it will take sacrifice, but perhaps we'll find our feet on the right path of faith.

Correction Toward Sustainable Economy?

Somewhere in my studies over the years I'd heard that the old Greek oikonomos is the root word for economy. In it's original meaning it speaks of "house rules" or "house management." All the recent national and global economic upheaval certainly points to some problems in the house.

Now I'm not primarily an economic or financial thinker, though I tend to have faith opinions on many topics. While you might go to a financial expert (are there any of those in these times?) what I offer is more a faith and life response to the current changes in the world.

I come from much more conservative south Georgia roots. My people have tended more toward survival and are just now taking steps into middle class suburbia. All the financial instability, job losses, loss of homes, loss of stock value, etc. reminds me how fragile this whole thing is. It also reminds me how much we rely upon our job and financial status to define who we are. In our culture now you take away someones job and you strip so much away that for many it is paralyzing, debilitating, completely overwhelming with seemingly few options.

It all makes me wonder if these are global economic corrections which will return us to a more moderate, sustainable lifestyle. Many of us have been feasting and expecting more the next day. Perhaps this just isn't a sustainable way of living. Perhaps we will be returning to something a little closer to the lifestyles of previous generations. Perhaps we have the flexibility and the resilience to make the adjustments which will create a new order. In my mission journeys I find many people who do have these skills. Now it is our turn to adapt, and maybe as we do that we'll find we have actually strengthened our house.