Benefit Bank to offer free, easy access to government benefits

The benefits, stressed Debbie Snapp, Executive Director of Catholic Social Service (CSS), are "federal dollars already budgeted. We’re just trying to keep them in Kansas."

In other words, she said, "It doesn’t cost the taxpayer a dime more."

Representatives of the Philadelphia-based Benefit Bank came to the Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe Sept. 26 to explain the program to nearly 60 people representing different denominations and service agencies.

The Benefit Bank (which isn’t a bank at all, but a process of accessing benefits), will soon be training several staff and volunteers at the Dodge City CSS office to offer the free program.

"In these 28 counties in southwest Kansas, none reaches the median income level for the state of Kansas," said Bishop Gilmore in an opening statement at the Sept. 26 meeting. "At the same time, southwest Kansas has unemployment rates lower than the State average. We have a very hard working population, whether they work on farms or in the meat-packing plants, who must struggle to provide adequately for their families. The Benefit Bank provides us a way to do something on the local scene to help the working poor."

Karole Bradford of Interfaith Ministries of Wichita, and Leslie Winder of Solutions for Progress in Philadelphia, explained the purpose of the Benefit Bank and how it can help individuals, families and local communities.

The program, which is already being used in several states, utilizes a computer software program that allows individuals to apply for numerous federal and state-level public benefits at the same time. Those may include Earned Income Credit, Food Stamps, state children’s health insurance programs, medical benefits, child care subsidies, Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Programs (LIHEAP), as well as several tax credits, including Child & Dependent Care Credit, Child Tax Credit, and others.

"Our focus is fighting poverty," said Winder. "We are committed to advancing the financial interests of low income households. The Benefit Bank is a one-stop service where a person can get a host of benefits in one place."

According to Winder, the Benefit Bank can provide a great economic impact to depressed local communities by providing access to benefits for people who qualify. For example, more than 13 million people in the United States qualify for Food Stamps, but do not receive them. Nearly six million uninsured children in this country qualify for, but are not a part of, the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And more than five million people who qualify for tax refunds that they have earned, do not receive them.

"We have become convinced that the Benefit Bank can move Kansas forward for low wage families and seniors," said Bradford. "So many more people are going to food pantries now. Hear me when I say we are committed to economic justice. …"

Bradford explained that it wouldn’t be financially practical for the Benefit Bank to open an office in every region in Kansas. Instead, the Bank is looking for partner agencies willing to have volunteers or staff trained to present the program to people in their community.

Two days after the cathedral meeting, Snapp was setting up in her office a computer donated by National Beef to be used primarily for the Benefit Bank. Staff members, including Amy Falcon, who operates the Teen Moms program, regularly come into contact with those in need of assistance.

Once staff have undergone the training process, Snapp said, the Benefit Bank services offered through the CSS office will be open to the public, and will be offered in both English and Spanish.

Interfaith Ministries of Wichita is looking to expand the program initially in the counties of Barton, Ford, Finney and Grant. Social service agencies, parishes, congregations, faith-based institutions, community organizations and private employers can serve as sites for the Benefit Bank.

Co-sponsoring the seminar with Bishop Gilmore were: Bishop Scott Jones, United Methodist Bishop of the Kansas West Conference; Bishop James Adams, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Western Kansas; Bishop Gerald Mansholt, Lutheran Bishop of the Central States Synod, ELCA; Reverend Dr. Donald Owens, General Presbyter of the Presbytery of Southern Kansas; Dr. Paxton Jones, District Minister for the Central and High Plains Direct of the Christian Church in Kansas, and Rev. Dorothy Nickel Friesen, Western District Conference Minister of the Western District Conference of the Mennonite Church, USA.

For more information, contact Debbie Snapp, executive director of Catholic Social Services, (620) 227-1562, or email dsnapp@dcdiocese.org, or bishop @dcdiocese.org. Put "TBB Seminar" in the subject line.