By Sheila G. Kelley, Development Coordinator
“We do have great success stories. There’s one that will stay with me forever,” said Peggy Gerber, administrative assistant for the St. Matthew’s Payee Program.
An elderly lady lived in Halstead in an apartment by herself. She was scammed up the wazoo. And just handed money here and there and was always overdrawn at the bank. She became a client, and she was in debt already, $3000-$4000. When she died, she had over $10,000 in the bank.”
The name “payee program” has lead many people to think services provided are similar to check cashing business or the like. But that’s not true – it’s so much more.
“Basically what we do is manage their money for them,” said Mike Loyd, part-time executive director and priest at a church in Derby. “I’m here part-time and there part-time.”
The social security administration designates the payee program to be the client’s financial representative. Monthly disability checks are deposited in a local bank and then used to pay the client’s bills.
Mike and Peggy work with clients in the nursing homes as well as people who are living independently in their own apartments.
“The clients receive social security benefits either because they’ve been diagnosed with an Intellectual/Developmental Disability (IDD) and/or they live with a chronic mental illness,” Mike explained. “Some of them have both.”
So what can a client expect from the payee program? During case management with Mike, the person has a bank account to where the benefits go. After receiving the funds, the payee program pays all their bills and counsels them on proper money management.
Clients submit receipts for what they want reimbursed from their accounts and some local businesses let them charge their services and directly bill the payee program. With that process, the client doesn’t even have to see the bill and worry about it.
“We have a good reputation < in Newton> so when these people are out in the community, businesspeople know that they are responsible through us,” Peggy stated. “They know that the clients’ bills will be paid.
But that’s not all they do.
“We also help people with food stamp applications, medical card applications, recertifications, LEAP applications and housing,” Mike stated. “Those are just some additional things we take on and, in some cases, it just works out for us to take that on.”
Mike and Peggy, along with four volunteers from St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, manage the program which has around 170 people participating now and a bunch of pending referrals.
Another misconception is that the program pays for all the clients debts but that is now true. The program won’t pay such things as court fines and personal loans.
“Some people call and say, ‘I need help to pay my electric bill,’” Peggy said. “We do pay the electric bill but only for our established clients.”
Mike and Peggy are grateful for the Harvey County United Way dollars the program is awarded. They appreciate that the funds aren’t restricted but can be used for any client’s needs.
“We do have other expenses besides salaries,” Mike stated. “General stuff like postage and envelopes are a big one. Medical expenses come up that our clients can’t afford like dental or eye glasses costs.”
Besides their general business expenses account, they manage a ‘client needs’ account. There are times when clients’ monthly income doesn’t cover their needs. The HCUW grant supplements this account.
“The HCUW funds are used for a little bit of everything,” Mike explained. “It’s a needed service <that relies on the HCUW grants>.”
The United Way 