Joomla Login LightBox powered by WowJoomla.com

With the recent economic recession, the country has seen a new wave of unemployed Americans who have had to face the idea of poverty for the first time. And it’s affecting people in the Northland.

To address this growing class of the newly poor, the Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph have created a new position, economic security coordinator, funded by a grant from the United Way.

“My job description is to help those newly impacted by the economy,” said Becky Gripp, the economic security coordinator for the Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph. “Who are those newly impacted? People who have never had to ask for assistance before; those who have been directly affected by the recession in the last one or two years.”

Gripp will be working with six different Catholic churches, providing financial help to those newly in need all across the Kansas City area. For Northlanders, Gripp will be operating out of Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 1103 S. Commercial in Smithville, every Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

According to the Rev. Greg Haskamp, pastor at Good Shepherd, Smithville was chosen as the Northland hub for the program because the Catholic Charities received a number of requests for assistance from Smithville residents and the community also provides a good vantage point to reach all of the Northland.

From the Smithville location and across the Northland, Gripp will provide free group sessions to teach those impacted by the recession about basic financial education; everything from shopping to basic investment and how to get back to work. The group sessions will change topic and location weekly, Gripp said, and they will be tailored to each community.

But while the sessions will be educational, Gripp said, they won’t necessarily be classes and they will be presented in a nonthreatening manner. It’s not about showing people they were wrong, Gripp said, it’s about showing them what to do now.

“People have been beaten over the head with financial information and budgets and you had too many credit cards, you overspent, you bought too big a house or you didn’t ask enough questions,” she said. “I believe we need to meet people where they are. It won’t do any good to drive people away from resources that could benefit them. You’ve got to move forward, because you can’t change what happened.”

In addition to the group sessions, Gripp will also be providing one-on-one counseling at Good Shepherd during her office hours at the church, offering financial advice and connecting people to valuable resources they might not know about.

“I work with people who have been laid off at Sprint, but I also work with people who were laid off at a fast food restaurant,” she said. “My clientele is all over the board.”

Ultimately, Haskamp said, the program is all about giving people good advice so they won’t need the assistance in the future.

“It’s the difference between handing them a fish and teaching them how to fish,” he said. “So much good is done giving people fish, but sometimes not a lot of work is done focusing on teaching people how to fish.”

GET HELP

To get help from the Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph’s contact Becky Gripp at 931-9399 or e-mail her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

GROUP SESSIONS

- 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15 — “Money Matters” at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 1103 S. Commercial, Smithville

- 7 to 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 20 — “Job Club” at St. Therese Parish, 7207 N.W. Highway 9, Kansas City

- 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 5 — “Money Matters” at Church of the Annunciation, 701 N. Jefferson, Kearney

Staff writer Michael Westblade can be reached at 389-6636 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed