UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 18, Page 6
February 4, 1993
Financial assistance available

     Thirty-six people recently completed training as volunteer financial
counselors and are ready to help financially troubled Delaware families
manage their money better.
     Delaware Cooperative Extension provides five weeks of in-depth
training as part of its statewide Volunteer Financial Counseling Service.
Over the last two years, more than 90 volunteers have completed the
training.
     The counseling service, which is free and confidential, helps families
reconcile their debts, set up spending plans, control cash flow and learn
sound money-management skills.
     To receive counseling, Delaware residents should call their county
Extension office and ask to be matched with a counselor. County extension
offices are located in Newark (831-1239), Dover (697-4000) and Georgetown
(856-7303).
     "Counselors usually meet with an individual or family once a week at
first," explained home economics agent Roxane Whittaker, who supervises the
program in Kent County. "Once a plan of action is developed, meetings may
be less frequent."
     The goal of the program is to make clients financially independent.
Cases usually are closed within six months.
                                        -Doris Crowley