RALLIES FOR RELIEF: ‘It ain’t easy,’ but it’s necessary and important

RALLIES FOR RELIEF By Marlene Scanlon D’Iberville is so small that it was almost overlooked by the media.

   "Have you seen the price of gasoline? It cost me about $40 to fill up my tank."
   "Those taxes go up every year. Where’s it going to end?"
   "I just spent on one week’s groceries what I used to spend for a month’s worth of groceries."
   Life’s tough. It ain’t easy.
   For those who live on disability, general assistance or a meager social security check, life is really tough. Most of the low-income people in this area are trying to survive. They clip coupons, look for specials, and cut corners that would amaze some accountants. They would be very happy to go to work, but they can’t. Some are sick, some have little children and cannot afford childcare, and some don’t have the skills to get a job that would sustain them in this economy. The charges for their rent, utility and phone bills are just the same as yours and mine. If they are lucky and meet all the criteria, they may get a little (and I stress little) help from special programs for their utilities. Their children need clothes, food and shelter just like our children do. Sure, there are a few people who would take advantage of the good will of others. However, most are caring, cooperative people struggling to keep their pride and dignity in tack while humbly seeking ways to survive. With any luck, they will hear about the food pantries in the area, the social service assistance, benevolent churches and even the St. Vincent de Paul Society. They do have some resources. But, it ain’t easy.
   The little town of D’Iberville, Miss., is one of those small southern towns that seem to have been almost overlooked. The 8,000 residents experienced the loss of 75 percent of their town; 20 percent of what remains is heavily damaged.
   They lost two elementary schools and their library as well as businesses and homes. They lost their security, comfort and community. They even lost their resources.
   Hurricane Katrina did quite a number on them. They face more hardship than many here would have to face in a lifetime. Families are living in tents and they are hungry. There is a special concern for the elderly who live on their Social Security checks. Those checks usually come in the mail, but the postal system isn’t what it used to be.
   The emphasis for assistance from the government has gone to the places with larger populations. That’s only natural — logical.
   But where do the people of D’Iberville begin? How do they begin? One of the largest obstacles is the lack of tools. They have nothing to clean up with and nothing to fix things with. It ain’t easy.
   When the South Brunswick Rallies for Relief committee comes with their hands out, looking to you for some kind of donation, will you help?
   Adults and children, churches and businesses, all of you have helped in so many crises that the possibility that some of you will say "I gave at the office" is a real one. If you could only see how much you are needed. If only you could realize that it’s up to us, up to all of us to help one more time because "there but for the grace of God" go any of us.
   Here we are, asking for you to open your hearts and your purses one more time and it ain’t easy.
Marlene Scanlon is the director of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Augustine of Canterbury R.C. Church in Kendall Park and a member of the South Brunswick Rallies for Relief committee.