September 18, 2006VOL. 44, NO. 16Oakland, CA

Benefactor leaves funds for direct aid
to homeless seniors

By Sharon Abercrombie
Staff writer

It began like any other work day. Rhonda Rayford, a school dishwasher, said goodbye to Anita Young, her 81-year-old grandmother, before heading off to Oakland to work. A few hours later, a fire, possibly caused from faulty wiring, destroyed their apartment in San Leandro and sent their lives into chaos.

Fortunately, Rayford’s grandmother escaped the July 8 fire unharmed. But the two women were left with only the clothes on their backs.
“Imagine leaving the house and coming back to nothing,” said Rayford, 34. “It was like Hurricane Katrina.” Everything was gone, she said, including all the treasured mementoes of a life time -- “my yearbooks, my school ring, old photos.”

The Red Cross quickly supplied them with $180 for clothing, food, and shelter in a local hotel. It then referred Rayford to Catholic Charities of the East Bay for further housing assistance.

Thanks to a new endowment fund, left to the Catholic agency by the late Georgiana Cassidy, the two women are now living in an apartment in Hayward. Except for CCEB, the two women might be homeless instead today, said Rayford, explaining that her salary would not have allowed her to pay the security deposit plus first and last month’s rent. That money came from the fund.

Gordon Banks

Their benefactor was an active member of St. Augustine Parish in Oakland “with a passion for social justice,” said Cassidy’s attorney, Philip Jelley. Cassidy died on Dec. 26, 2004.

In providing the $675,000 endowment, she stipulated that $56,000 of it be used each year for direct services to homeless, low income, and marginally housed senior citizens. Eighty percent of the money must go into direct services, such as eviction prevention, move-in money, critical housing needs, medicine, food, clothing, and other needs. The other 20 percent is earmarked for case management and counseling.

So far, nearly 60 seniors have benefited from the assistance program-- 48 people in Alameda County and 10 in Contra Costa County. Catholic Charities hopes other people will leave similar legacies, said Carol Leahy, administrator and overseer of the critical family needs program.

In one case, Cassidy’s generosity has helped save a life, said Kathy McCarthy, a social worker at St. Mary’s Senior Center in Oakland.

Gordon Banks, 73, a homeless Korean War veteran, walked into the courtyard of St. Mary’s on Aug. 15, carrying a small knapsack. His hands were shaking badly.

“I need to be in a board and care facility,” he told McCarthy.

McCarthy, overwhelmed with a large caseload that day, asked Banks to return the next day. “I guess I can sleep outside in the cold one more night,” he told her quietly. McCarthy’s heart turned over at his plight, but there was nothing she could do for him at the moment.
She worried that he might not come back, but he reappeared the next morning. “I don’t know if I can make it anymore,” he said.

Banks had worked as a janitor after his military service, married and had a son who was developmentally disabled. When both his son and wife died, “I just couldn’t hold it together anymore and I started drifting,” he told a Voice reporter.

He came to St. Mary’s Center after the VA office across the street advised him to seek help there.

McCarthy was able to place him at a board and care hotel near Lake Merritt. The Cassidy Fund picked up the security deposit, plus two months’ rent to assist him until his monthly VA benefits arrive.

Banks is now part of the “lunch bunch” group of seniors which converges at St. Mary’s each noon six days a week for a hot meal. “The most important thing is, I got off the street,” Banks said with relief and gratitude.

Madelyn Woods has similar feelings.

“God bless them,” Woods exclaimed, referring to Catholic Charities. A diabetic living on Social Security, Woods saw her stress level triple in July when she received a $600 water bill.

“There was some misunderstanding. I didn’t know I was supposed to pay for water,” said Woods, explaining that her new landlord had asked Woods to keep up the front and back yard, “and I wasn’t careful,” she said.

When the bill arrived, Woods panicked. She went to the Salvation Army, which referred her to Catholic Charities. Eventually, with the help of the Cassidy Fund, the bill was resolved. But the same thing could happen again; a relative has discovered the house has leaky pipes.

Woods is hoping to move to another Section 8 house by the end of the month, one in better repair. She doesn’t need any more leaky pipes, landlord misunderstandings or sleepless nights “when all I did was pray and cry,” she said.

Leahy of Catholic Charities has nothing but praise for the impact of the Cassidy Fund.
Never before has the agency had a fund at its disposal with such broad parameters to assist seniors who ordinarily might have fallen through the cracks, she said.

For more information about accessing the fund, or contributing to it, contact Adam See at Catholic Charities of the East Bay, (510) 768-3115.

back to top

home