How to help your community amid the Great Recession

A group of Petaluma parishioners Sunday gathered to learn how to help local residents who are suffering in the Great Recession, and several offered their own stories.

“My three grown sons all were laid off from their jobs,” said Nancy McFarland.

“I was laid off,” said Jeanne Torassa. “... and I was laid off again.”

About 45 people attended the meeting after Sunday Mass at St. James Catholic Church in east Petaluma.

“This is an attempt on the part of our parish to take a good hard look at the situation in our town,” said Ray Noll, a church deacon who also is a board member for COTS, the Committee on the Shelterless, which provides aid and support to Petaluma’s homeless residents.

The questions were how could they as individuals, as a church group and as a community help those in need throughout the Petaluma area?

The answer from several people was that every little bit could help, from expanding the usual efforts, including clothes and food drives, to one man’s offer to put up $50 a month for several months to go to a local struggling family identified by the church.

The man also challenged the church to find 19 more people to do the same and they could help support a few families. His suggestion was warmly applauded.

Speakers updated the audience on various situations in the city, including needy students, health services and impending budget cuts to such programs as COTS as well as city and school agencies.

Budget cuts mean less money in the community, either through programs and grant money or a ripple effect from school and city workers who make less money and have less money to spend, said Karen Nau, a former Petaluma city councilwoman.

No one is immune, said John Records, long-standing executive director of COTS.

“It’s not about ‘them.’ It’s about us,” Records said. “This could happen to us too.”

Records told the audience that while the economy is showing some signs of improvement, the agency continues to be contacted by more people who need help.

The growing numbers include people struggling in their retirement, and Records feared those numbers will grow as the country’s aging population grows.

Maureen Rudder, the principal of McDowell Elementary School in east Petaluma, said about 90 percent of the students at her school receive lunch cost aid.

Unemployed software engineer Bill Putnam said he was laid off last spring. He since has started a group at the church, which meets at 10 a.m. Thursdays for unemployed people to network and support each other.

Many area churches and groups have taken up similar efforts, said Records, who encouraged everyone to do whatever they could to help others.

“The good news is we have the capacity together to do what needs to be done,” Records said.

After the meeting, Phyllis Sharrow said she’s anxious to do something for her community.

“We’re fortunate. We have a home and are as secure as anybody can be. We want to pay some forward,” Sharrow said.

You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412 or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.