Woman grateful for heating assistance
PROVIDENCE - As the first sustained period of cold weather and snow descended upon the state the phone calls to the Interfaith Community Dire Emergency Fund were increasing.
Pauline Cardin, one of a trio of retired diocesan intake workers who return each Thanksgiving and Christmas season to help with the increased case load, said she was surprised by the difficulties so many families face.
“I am almost 88-years-old and lived through the Depression, a World War and any number of recessions, and I can’t recall any period that made it as tough on working families,” Cardin said. “After 25 years spent working at the state Department of Employment Security and 17 years working at Project Hope/Proyecto Esperanza, you develop a sense of just how things are going in society at-large. This year, if you have a roof over your head and the ability to heat your home, you are very lucky!” Cardin talked about a recent call from a woman who was referred to Interfaith by her church. She was working but had surgery recently for breast cancer and needed more than $900 to have her gas service restored, having exhausted all other sources of assistance.
Having received enough help to again receive service, the woman said that “if it weren¹t for you people, my pipes would be freezing. Thank you. Thank you and God bless you.” This woman and the many others like her are receiving assistance because of the response to Bishop Thomas J. Tobin’s ‘Keep the Heat On’ Challenge. The fund surpassed $45,000 this week with generous donations from parishes and individuals.
This article originally published in The Providence Visitor.