Florida Catholic | Poor Need Your Help

Poor need your help this Christmas

Published: 12.14.07

MIAMI | Tessa Painson needs help this Christmas — not for herself, but for the people she helps.

“The situation has gotten bad in south Florida, especially in the areas that we serve,” said Painson, program administrator for Catholic Charities Emergency Services, based at the Pierre Toussaint Center in Miami’s Little Haiti neighborhood. She said the program served more than 2,000 people last year by providing them with money for rent, utilities, food and mortgage payments.

“We get a lot of people (who find it) difficult to ask for help,” Painson said. “Our role is to keep the family together, to keep a roof over the kids’ heads. Most of the people we help are families.”

She added that her caseworkers are seeing an increasing number of senior citizens as well.

“We’ve been helping more and more older people, retired people. They’re on a fixed income. Some of them are losing their homes because of taxes or insurance.”

Donations may be sent to: Catholic Charities Office of Emergency Services, 9401 Biscayne Blvd., Miami, FL 33138. Write “emergency services” on the memo line of all checks.

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Poor need your help this Christmas

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