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Food for the body "Feed the hungry" is a faith-based teaching followed every week at more than 100 food pantries and 40 free-meal dispensing points in the state.
Food for the soul
A state survey of churches finds
holes in the safety net
they provide for the needyBy Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.comAt least 75 churches provide clothing for the needy.
There are more than 50 congregations that will give short-term help with utility bills and even rent.
Those were tidbits of good news presented Monday at a workshop on "Faith-Based Community Assets in Hawaii" during the state conference on volunteerism at the Hawai'i Convention Center.
But when it comes to questions about providing housing, job training or literacy programs, the answer is usually "no" to a survey now under way among island faith communities. Only 168 of the 600 churches have responded so far in the project launched a year ago by the State Volunteer Services office.
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The aim was to get a view of what help is available for people whose welfare checks will disappear with the termination of their Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. Some 800 families went off the rolls Dec. 1 under the 1996 law that set a five-year limit on financial aid. An additional 250 to 400 families hit their limit each month."The idea is to get a look at the safety net," said Tony Locascio of the Volunteer Services office. The hope is that the findings, which will published later this year, will give churches a networking tool through which they can match the needy with the resources available, he said.
The grass-roots effort was not plugged into President Bush's "faith-based initiative" when it was launched. But it cannot help but be affected by the nationwide publicity surrounding the president's goal to make church-connected social service programs eligible for federal funding, as are other nonprofit agencies. The state effort has been helped by the local office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, one of five federal agencies with faith-based initiative programs.
The Hawaii survey has not focused on umbrella agencies such as Catholic Charities, which operates separately from the Catholic Church and provides social services under contract to the state, with a budget that is 85 percent federally funded.
The task of collecting information congregation by congregation is now in the hands of students in a research methods/statistics class at Brigham Young University Hawaii. After only 108 churches had responded to the state survey, the students prepared tables and charts illustrating what is available and, most telling, what is not.
This year, the scholars are following up by calling other churches to fill in the blanks.
Their professor, Derrik Tollefson, said the project is not affected by the school's affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In fact, since most Latter-day Saints social outreach programs are for members only, they are not going to be listed in the directory, he said. However, some are "good models" for other churches, such as a Job Links system accessible to all members, whether they know of available jobs or are seeking employment.
At this point, only Christian communities have been called, but Tollefson said: "We want everybody in this directory -- Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist. We want everybody to participate."
Student Karalee Davis said: "We think the directory will unify churches. If someone comes by for help they don't provide, they can use the directory to say, 'If you go to the church down yonder, they have it.'"
Student Eryn Salden told the small seminar audience about the gaps in the safety net: "We found 10 or less churches that offer job training, literacy programs for children, adult literacy programs, transitional housing. There are a lot of holes in the safety net."
Fewer than 10 faith communities answered "yes" to questions about providing health-care clinics, computer classes, used computers, community gardens, adult day care or tutoring for children.
The young researchers could learn about safety nets and networking from some members of their Monday audience. The collaboration among about 100 organizations on the Leeward Coast is a good example.
"Some are bigger agencies; some are affiliated with government, state or city; some are nonprofits; some are churches; and some are just doing it because they want to," said Lynn Waiamau of the Honolulu Community Action Program. "Being a secluded area of the island, if we don't collaborate, we are in trouble. Our survival factor is that we help each other or else help is far away."
"We look at each other on a first-name basis. When HCAP gets surplus, we share it. We try to help each other," Waiamau said.
"I know the kids are trying to connect the bigger picture. I think they'll find people already networking within their community," she said.
Cameron Johnson, executive director of Na Hoaloha on Maui, said the Maui Interfaith Caregivers group is "a model for other churches."
"Our coalition draws volunteers from every church," Johnson said. "We have a network that works really nice. We match volunteers with elderly, disabled or chronically ill people. Volunteers provide transportation, meal preparation, respite care, whatever they need. If social services can't help, they say call us."
Johnson said: "There is a misconception that welfare people will be cut off completely. They still receive medical care and food stamps, but they will not get their checks."
Locascio said the state knows it will take time for this to succeed. The retired McDonnell Douglas Corp. international business manager said the state Volunteer Services office has neither "the resources, the bodies or the machines to cope with the project."
"We are still the driver on it," he said. "I like that the students are involved."
Besides being volunteers for the good cause, the students are benefiting as scholars, Tollefson said.
"They get to see how the research process really works, that it is not as straight and clean as it appears," he said. "It can be messy to get people to cooperate, to forge partners. I want them to do projects that are meaningful, not about favorite ice cream flavors ... projects consistent with the mission of social work, to make the world a better place."
He hopes to involve a campus computer class in the project with the goal of creating a Web site where an up-to-date compilation of Faith-Based Community Assets would be just keystrokes away.
"We have just scratched the surface," Tollefson said. "We hope that as word gets out, churches will call us." He can be reached at 293-3591 or by e-mail to tollefsd@byuh.edu.
Locascio can be reached at the State Volunteer Services office at 586-7200.
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