UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 9, Page 3                        
October 29, 1992                                       
It's working; United Way agencies assist employee's family
                                                       
     You always have to hope. You have to keep looking up and believe
that you are going to make it," says Elizabeth White, library
technician in the Hugh M. Morris Library.                    
     That's the attitude that helped White pull herself and her five
young children, ages 14 months to l0 years, through a rough time last
year...a time when, even though she had a job and was working, White
and her family were homeless.                                
     She credits compassionate people in Employee Services and several
area United Way agencies with helping her to get back on her feet.
     "I started working at the University in January and, prior to
that, had just gone through a divorce. I thought now that I was
employed I would be able to maintain things as they had been. I was
wrong. Things just had a snowball effect. We became homeless and all
of our bills were way behind.                                
     "I tried to keep working but I was distraught. I took a vacation
day and went to see James Doctson in Employee Services and talked to
him about resigning. It was a pressure situation. He referred me to
Joyce Dennis, and she just started making calls to agencies that could
help.                                                        
     "My pride was in my way. I wouldn't take my children to a
shelter. I stayed with people I knew or used all my money to rent 
rooms. Finally, I could see that I would have to contact Emmaus House.
I did and they arranged an interview."                       
     To stay at Emmaus House, a Newark shelter for women and children,
clients have to meet certain conditions. They have to have a job, and
they have to have day care for their children. Because White was
employed and her youngest children were being cared for at Girls Inc.,
she was able to move to Emmaus House.                        
     "It was so wonderful for the children to have enough beds," she 
recalls.                                                     
     "Emmaus House gave us every assistance you can think of, so that
we could eventually get a place of our own. They had counseling and
provided babysitting when I had to go to the counseling meetings. They
took the children on trips. Our food was included in our stay, there
were washers and dryers-everything you would need so that you could
save up every penny to get out on your own."                 
     By the end of her stay, White had saved enough money to pay the
first month's rent on a three-bedroom townhouse. Emmaus House helped
her find agencies to pay the necessary security deposit.     
     "All the time I was homeless I kept right on working in the
reserve room of the library. Very few people knew what I was going
through on the outside. This was the most stable area of my life. It
was a place of solace for me."                               
     Throughout her trial, White said her children are what kept her 
going.                                                       
     "There was no way I was going to allow anyone to separate us,"
she says.                                                    
     Her problem, she stresses, could happen to everyone.    
     "I used to work as a secretary for Du Pont," she says. "We always
had homes. We had two cars-new cars- and when the children came we
were able to live on my husband's income. Homelessness can happen to
anybody. I don't care how much you make. It can happen to anybody, and
it can happen very quickly."                                 
     In addition to Emmaus House and Girls Inc., White said she is
thankful to Catholic Charities in Wilmington, for helping her with
winter utility bills, and to the Immanuel Dining Room.       
     "It's not easy to take five children to a dining room for a free
meal," she says, "but when you have to decide if you'd rather be
embarrassed or eat...you'll choose to eat. At Immanuel, everyone is
treated with dignity and respect. They don't make you feel like you
are less of a person."                                       
     She also praises the Newark YWCA, which provides a latchkey
program both before and after school for her school-aged children.
     "So many agencies have helped us through our personal time of
need. I would just urge everyone to give to the United Way. We are so
lucky to have the agencies to meet these needs.              
     "Because of all these agencies, we are on our feet again. We're
on our way. My children are in school, day care or the latchkey
program. I'm working toward my associate degree and hoping to make
more money someday. Maybe we'll even be able to buy a small house.
We're building back up. It's going to take time, but all we have is
time."                                                       
                                        -Beth Thomas         
                                                             
The University's United Way campaign ends today. For more information,
call 831-2171.