Catholic Charities Providing help. Creating hope.

Social Security, Catholic Charities work
together to help needy in Immokalee

By Dick Connelly
Catholic Charities Board Member

Immokalee—The line starts forming about 8:30 in the morning twice each month outside the offices of Guadalupe Social Services, a Catholic Charities program here. More than 50 men and women, who are young, old, and some with restless children, come to see officials with the Social Security Administration (SSA) to apply for help.

Some seek assistance for disability or retirement benefits or any number of programs that will support them financially. Few speak English. The Catholic Charities agency is a familiar landmark here because it offers guidance and support.

“Several years ago, the people met with the Social Security officials in the town library,” recalled Desilus Nicolas, a Guadalupe Social Services caseworker who serves as an interpreter for the SSA.  “But there were no translators to help, unless you wanted to hire one for $50. They also had no access to the internet for their government computers,” he said.

So Guadalupe Social Services offered to supply both at their offices.  “It’s made a real difference,” said John Lanham, the SSA official in charge.  “We’re able to communicate and help people. That’s what we’re here for.”

The woman sitting across the desk from Lanham is in her 60’s. She speaks only Creole. Nicolas translates. She must complete a complicated green form and the two guide her through it. She has a large envelope filled with papers. One is a birth certificate, stained from age. It’s necessary to prove her birth and marriage to her late husband who died a few years ago. They had only been married two years.

“Some people who come here are not mentally competent,” said Brian Bennett, director of rural services for Catholic Charities.  “There are some situations where the agency will designate us as the ‘payee’ so we can pay their rent, their insurance, utilities, medical bills and, hopefully, put aside some funds for emergency use.”

Mary is such a person. She’s in her 40’s, has six children, and has an extremely volatile personality. She cannot handle her monthly benefit, which amounts to more than $500. “So we do it for her,” Bennett said. “That way, she has some financial stability and some hope for the future.”

Less than two hours after the doors opened, almost 30 people have been processed. However, the waiting room is still full. The hurricanes that tore through Florida last year have had a devastating impact on those who live in the Immokalee area. Fewer crops to pick led to more unemployment. Housing is scarce and landlords have raised rents. 

“One woman we helped as her ‘payee’ was from Alabama and in her 80’s,” Bennett remembered.  “She couldn’t tell a dollar bill from a one hundred dollar bill. So we took care of her bills and started saving a few dollars for her each month. After a few years, she had saved enough to afford a trip to Chicago to see a family she hadn’t seen in many years.”

Bennett said another typical client was like the one who was hooked on alcohol and drugs. “We helped him for years,” Bennett said.  “He died two years ago and the only ones at his funeral other than a few roommates were our staff and volunteers here who’d gotten to know him over the years. We had become his family.”

By noon, the SSA staff was completing their three-hour session. About 60 people were helped in some way. In two weeks, the SSA staff will be back and there will be another line of needy outside Guadalupe Social Services, new to the process, unable to speak English and needing help.

For more information about the Social Security services available at Guadalupe Social Services, call 239-657-6242.

Photo: John Lanham of the Social Security Administration speaks to a needy client who came to Guadalupe Social Services for assistance with their Social Security benefits.