wfn.org | Welfare Consultation Participants Hear Firsthand Stories

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

4-November-1997 
97426 
 
    Welfare Consultation Participants 
    Hear Firsthand Stories 
 
    by Jerry L. Van Marter 
 
LOUISVILLE, Ky.--Jan Nontell, who describes herself as "a Presbyterian in 
poverty," freely admits that "bad decisions" landed her in the federal 
welfare system.  The problem, she quickly adds, is that "the welfare check 
is only enough to dig yourself deeper." 
 
    When more than 200 Presbyterians gathered here Nov. 1-3 for a national 
consultation entitled "Service and Advocacy Ministry in the New Welfare 
Reality," they were joined by an invited group of participants who told 
them firsthand about that new reality. 
 
    And those, like Nontell, who have experienced the dehumanizing effects 
of the federal welfare system had some pointed words for Presbyterians. 
 
    "We need to be valued for our individualism and uniqueness," Nontell 
said, "not stereotyped or patronized."  She described the role of the 
church in relationship to welfare recipients who are trying -- and now, 
with the replacement of welfare by "workfare," are required -- to get off 
welfare as "coming along beside us." 
 
    Linda Meeghan of Fayetteville, N.C., a mother of two adult children who 
went on welfare after a divorce, said, "All we need is a hand up -- 
direction, not charity."  Meeghan, a college graduate who struggles to 
"make it" as a substitute schoolteacher, said, "A lot of the time, I just 
don't know which way to go." 
 
    Laura Jones, another college graduate who went on welfare after her 
husband left her following the birth of their child, agreed.  "I'm doing 
okay now because I trust in the Lord," she said.  "But we need to be taught 
how to make it -- self-esteem is the key, because we face humiliation on a 
daily basis." 
 
    Nontell told of a group of women in her home state of Washington called 
"the shadow ladies" because they did their grocery shopping at 3:00 a.m. to 
avoid the judgmental looks and comments of other shoppers when they paid 
with food stamps.  "We had to do it to avoid the pain -- it hurts, and the 
church shouldn't be contributing to it," she said. 
 
    "The church has power," Nontell continued.  "Use it -- establish 
transportation services, child care, mentoring programs."  She said she got 
off welfare only because "somebody in the church took an interest in me and 
gave me hope." 
 
    Nontell is active in the Presbyterian Church, serving as a Sunday 
school teacher in her congregation in Centralia, Wash.  She's on the 
evangelism committee and serves on Olympia Presbytery's Social Concerns 
Committee as well as being the presbytery's hunger action enabler.  But it 
wasn't always that way, she added. 
 
    "When I showed up in poverty and on welfare, the pastor at the time 
told me I was only good for pouring coffee.  Well, he's gone and I'm still 
there." 
 
    The invited participants are proud of their successful struggles to 
escape the welfare snare.  "People who have gotten off welfare are bigger 
winners than anyone anywhere," said Tumiko Wynn, a 20-year-old mother from 
Atlanta. 
 
    Jones, who now works for a nonprofit antipoverty agency in Georgia, 
agreed:  "I'm off welfare, I'm proud and I'm blessed." 
 
    But for the millions of Americans living in or near poverty, the 
struggle never ends.  "At $4.95 an hour [minimum wage], there's not much 
leeway for error," said Nontell.  "As you come alongside us," she told the 
consultation participants, "be patient.  Mere survival takes a lot of 
energy and even small steps are tough." 
 
    Most of all, she concluded, those who would contribute to the solution 
of the welfare mess in the U.S. must not be afraid to deal with the painful 
realities of poverty and hunger in America.  "Let the pain pull you closer 
to those who need your company," Nontell said.  

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