by Katie Patrick
Remember that time you went to the bank to resolve an issue with an automatic payment to your utilities company? After spending nearly an hour on the phone trying to resolve the issue you decide to go to the bank and speak to someone in person. Once you got to the bank and discussed your issue with the teller, she transferred you to a personal banker. You sat down at his cubicle and explained the issue once more, but unfortunately he was unable to help you.
He encouraged you to contact your utilities company. So you did. Your conversation with them seemed promising, however, they were unable to solve this over the phone—you had to be in person. You drove to their location and failed to bring two forms of required identification and address verification with you. You drive home and get what you need and return to the utilities company. After visiting with a representative there, they also are unable to assist you. Nobody seems to know how to adjust your monthly automatic payment.
The following day, you return to the bank—surely they must know the answer—the monthly payment is, after all, originating from your bank account. When you arrive at the bank, a different teller greets you and you explain this issue now for the seventh time, which includes the original phone call, transfers, and the in-person conversations over the past two days.
She listens to your now abbreviated, frustrated explanation of what is going on and then asks you if you use BillPay online. You say, yes. She then asks if anyone else shares your account. You reply yes, my husband. She offers to check his account with you provided you get him on the line. You call your husband, and together, you now see that the automatic payment originates from his account.
The teller explains that even though you share the same checking account, the bank protects the privacy of each account holder and the automatic payments he/she sets up. You hang up the phone, the teller adjusts the automatic amount that is sent to your utilities company each month, you thank her profusely for her help and you leave the bank thinking to yourself how frustrating that was!
Now imagine that same scenario with a few added obstacles: you don’t have your own transportation so the time spent going to and from the bank and utilities company takes several hours due to the local bus schedule. You also don’t have childcare set up and it’s summer so all three of your kids are with you. When you are asked for the address verification, you can’t provide anything more than a hotel address because you have just moved from out of state.
There is also a language barrier. Even though you have lived in the United States for a few years, your English isn’t easily understood; you struggle to communicate in unfamiliar situations. You are also low on food, don’t know where your next paycheck is coming from and have no family or friend support network around you.
When we think of poverty or the poor and vulnerable, giving money comes to mind. And yes, the monetary donations we receive at Catholic Social Services of Southern Nebraska are absolutely critical. Your donation enabled us to help this particular family cover hotel costs while they found an apartment. Your donation also helped this family pay first-month’s rent. When you gave food through your parish food drive, it was then given to this family.
But because of your generosity, our staff was not only able to provide for the family’s physical needs, but was able to accompany them along the way. Our staff helped secure an affordable apartment by serving as a liaison between the family and potential landlords. Our staff helped set up utilities by communicating with the utility companies and getting the online paperwork submitted. Our staff connected the father of the family to a job that offers transportation to and from the meatpacking plant where he now works. While we may not have been with them at the bank or on the phone that day, we are now connected with the family so that in the future they can call us when they need us to help them get through those difficult moments.
So you see, your monetary donations allow us to hire, train, and support our staff at CSS, who provide these wraparound services with kindness, compassion, and expertise. Staff synergy between the different programs we have, including: the food market, emergency services, refugee resettlement, immigration legal services, and the front desk is what gave this family a fresh start in a new city.
The work we do at CSS is much more than helping our clients pay the bills. It’s listening, accepting, collaborating, solving, and encouraging both our clients and each other—and because of you, we are able to make it happen everyday. Thank you for your support. Thank you for trusting us with your charitable donations. Thank you for allowing us to develop our talents in ways that allow us to serve others because we truly are privileged to serve all those that we encounter across southern Nebraska, and we couldn’t do this work without you. May God bless you!
