Love INC links churches, agencies to aid needy

How to help Churches whose members are interested in participating in Love INC should call Neal Scogin at 883-6880.

Dennis True has seen the power of a helping hand through Grace Place, a Christian service center where he volunteers.
   Grace Place, which has been open for 1¤ years at Morgan Avenue Baptist Church, provides food, clothing and other assistance to the neighborhood's needy.
   "Just a couple of weeks ago we had a man come in needing help," True said. "He was disabled and his wife was out looking for a job. They had five or six kids and didn't have enough clothing or food for them. They were trying the best they could, but needed some help."
   But like other charity centers and ministries, Grace Place also has drawn the flip side, those who go from church to church scamming the good-hearted.
   A new local effort, however, works with churches and area agencies to address the unmet needs of the needy, and in doing so helps verify legitimate requests for help. Love INC, part of World Vision, a charitable international Christian organization, plans to launch its community clearinghouse in the fall. INC is an acronym for In the Name of Christ.
   "I think every city ought to have something like this," True said. "So many of us are doing exactly the same kind of thing through our own churches, and without a network in place people find a way to take advantage of that.
   "If people are truly in need and want to make things better for themselves, we want to be able to help them do that."
   It is precisely that kind of help the clearinghouse hopes to provide, said Neal Scogin, executive director of Love INC of Corpus Christi. A local church donated office space for volunteers to man its phone bank. Overall, Love INC has affiliates in 26 states.
   Budget issues
   "Our effort is not designed to address emergency needs; for example, someone about to get their electricity turned off," Scogin said. "Unless we deal with the deeper issue, we would just be putting a Band-Aid on the situation at best, and enabling at worst."
   In such a situation, Love INC, for example, might attempt to get the power company to grant the family an extension. But they would also work closely with the family on budget issues and on addressing other reasons for their monthly struggle to make utility payments or the rent, said Bob Jamison, a member of Love INC's Development Committee.
   Love INC will partner with all interested churches of all denominations throughout the area, and would complement - not replace - existing charity efforts, Jamison said. It will assess every request for help by identifying the caller's specific need, verifying the legitimacy of the request and determining if that individual's need is manageable.
   "If someone is about to have their home foreclosed, that's not a manageable thing for us to undertake," Jamison explained.
   Pairing up partners
   In addition to referring callers to programs, agencies or church ministries already in place to provide the kind of help they seek, Love INC also will match callers with church volunteers. An elderly person, for example, whose fixed income does not stretch far enough to fix a plumbing problem at home would be matched with a plumber who signed up with Love INC to donate his or her skilled labor.
   "No local church can do it all, and not every church has a plumber willing to donate their time," Scogin said. "What this absolutely requires is an ability to network well with each other."