Welfare Blues

A recent frustrating experience with welfare agencies during any efforts to assist a hapless neighbor of mine dredged up long past memories of my youth.

From the time I was 5 years old and until I was 16, I faithfully attended Cheder (Hebrew School). While I don't remember much of what I learned, certain moral precepts made an indelible impression on me. As a youngster I was much affected by the admonition in Biblical texts to leave 10 percent of one's fields unharvested so the poor could come and take their share of the crop without being 'given' anything. How uplifting was the thought of anonymous charity to shield donees from embarrassment. And with no tax deduction, even!

To this very day I find ever so appealing the lofty moral principles and estimable social philosophy espoused in both the Bible and Jewish lore and law.

Then, later, in my teens I had occasion to experience the 'trickle down' largess of the big city political machines of Mayor Jimmy Walker in New York and Mayor Kelly in Chicago. Those guys may have been corrupt and feathered their own nests, but the poor and disadvantaged also were helped.

I, myself, got jobs shoveling snow down manholes after snow storms, at 50 cents per hour, a very desirable wage during the depression. The political block captains not only shepherded your vote on election day but also were available in time of dire need with food packages, and provided temporary post office jobs during the Christmas rush.

I grew up with the poor and have always had empathy with the disadvantaged. I would rather err on the side of welfare generosity, even at the cost of some 'unworthies' obtaining food stamps, than possibly withhold from anyone who is truly needy. I suppose it comes from the knowledge that at very best the lives of the poor are not enviable. So why make it harder than necessary for them.

Why are we so ready in our judicial system to allow a thousand guilty persons to go free rather than see one innocent incarcerated, and yet behave so callously lest some undeserving recipient receive welfare assistance?

Which brings me to my recent disconcerting experiences with the current melange of social welfare agencies. My neighbor, Miss D, is an over-sixty lady who resided with and took care of an elderly, ailing mother who recently died at the age of 92. D has never been trained for the general job market but earns some money by giving private piano lessons at her apartment. After her mother's death, the minimal supplemental social security my neighbor was entitled to amounted to a scanty $121 per month.

Through no fault of her own, she had lost some of her piano students during the several months preceding her mother's death, and she was in no position to meet the rental payments due. I felt that if some financial assistance could be rendered, she could in time either increase her piano lessons income or find a roommate to help share the rent.

Since she is a very timid soul, I volunteered to help in seeking assistance for her. That's when the nightmare began.

First off, I found that she had to borrow several hundred dollars to pay for her mother's funeral and that the meager burial allowance formerly paid by Social Security was no longer being granted. What seems like a minor cut to the budget cutters and the well-to-do can represent a tragic void to the poor.

Secondly, I found that most of the social service agencies were understaffed and relied to a great extent on volunteers. I went in person to two such agencies and spoke to several others on the telephone; and while I got a lot of general advice, there was no pecuniary assistance to be had for my neighbor.

Oh, sure, they would counsel her if she felt bereaved by the loss of her mother, or advise her how to apply for the State renters credit on her income tax return, but no money. Had she been evicted from her apartment (which she may well be) for non-payment of rent, they would have found her temporary quarters. If she didn't have a meal, they would provide one. Otherwise, even though her total gross income from all sources is less than $5000 per year, there was no monetary aid available, even on a temporary basis.

I desperately sought through these agencies the services of a social worker who might be familiar with all the types of financial assistance available in a situation like this. One after another the agencies sent me elsewhere, and the recommended agency would refer me back to the previous service. I felt like a shuttlecock in a badminton game.

All the agencies complained of recent drastic cut backs in domestic spending under the Reagan administration that left them understaffed and short-funded. While I was persistent and even clamorous in my pursuit, it was to little avail.

It was a most discomfitting experience, and I was worn down by the unproductive (albeit courteous) answers I was receiving.

It all brought back some poignant memories of my childhood when I saw my mother collecting 50 cents from neighbors to pay the monthly rent (then about $12) for a family whose wage-earner was out of work, so they wouldn't be "put out in the street" (as eviction was euphemistically referred to). How sad that the poor of those days were so much more prepared to help one another than we are today. With increased wealth has come alienation.

I am incensed that we have a plethora of weaponry and a dearth of funds for the needy. Don't let anybody tell you that there are plenty of agencies and lots of money available for the indigent among us.

My own experience leads me to believe otherwise.