People who are entering eviction procedures or threatened with Consumers Power shut-off need help to stave off the worst-case outcome. Either by referral from social workers, or the emergency information hotline, 211, they call the church at 269-743-2500. Their calls result in a voicemail and one of our volunteers returns their calls generally within 24 hours of the receipt of their call. Rapid response is so important. After a brief conversation, it is generally clear whether we will be helping them or not. We also help our callers find other agencies which can assist as well. A sample call will soon be available for you to listen. Typically, we pledge $100 to these people. When they have raised sufficient funds to avoid shut-off or eviction, we send our check to the landlord or Consumers Energy on their behalf.
The money we give is provided by donations and by the Pastor’s Discretionary Fund. It would not be unusual that we would be giving over $750 a week. When we are working in concert with the other agencies, it is not impossible to raise $2500 for someone who faces eviction or $1000 for persons facing the loss of power. Please support this effort. In your prayers, consider whether you can be one of those people who will play the role of angel for persons who are facing one of the life-changing disasters of their lives. The people we help are generally self-sufficient. We usually find that callers have not asked us for assistance since 2019.
Understand, the gift that will have the greatest impact is your becoming one of the volunteers. Thanks to your ongoing generosity, we haven’t run out of money yet.