Posted 8:55 pm Sunday, September 19, 2010
PATH's Existence True Blessing For Tylerites
Let's remember what compassion truly means. It's not merely sympathy, nor is it simple charity. Com-passion, from the Latin, means literally to suffer with.
There's no better description of the mission and the accomplishments of People Attempting To Help, (PATH), Tyler's homegrown and remarkably successful ecumenical charitable organization. Many of the churches and other houses of worship will mark PATH Week in their services today.
Its mission statement says PATH intends help "economically disadvantaged people in Smith County with both emergency assistance and programs to empower and encourage them to become self-sufficient."
It's the last part that makes it special. Governments are good at handouts; it takes people to come alongside the suffering and help build them up and regain their self-respect and self-sufficiency.
That was the clear goal of the group's founders more than a quarter of a century ago.
"To those who worked to get PATH launched, common purpose trumped differences," said the Rev. Dr. Stuart Baskin as he read aloud from a letter from another founding member, the Rev. Doug Vaughan, during a recent luncheon. "Religions didn't matter. Denominations didn't matter. Social standing didn't matter. What mattered was that this community was going to do its best to see that people in need were cared for with generosity and dignity."
Dignity - that's something no government program can deliver with a faceless check in the mail.
And it's the heart of what PATH does best.
In the 26 years since the late Gertrude Windsor went to area churches and said, "Boys, there are folks out there who need help," PATH has faced lean times - most recently last year, when donations seemed to dry up during the lowest depth of the recession. At the same time, PATH was seeing more and more demand, due to spreading unemployment and economic hardship.
In the 26 years since the late Gertrude Windsor went to area churches and said, "Boys, there are folks out there who need help," PATH has faced lean times - most recently last year, when donations seemed to dry up during the lowest depth of the recession. At the same time, PATH was seeing more and more demand, due to spreading unemployment and economic hardship.
But the community responded to PATH's calls for help, and soon nearly $200,000 was donated to keep the agency afloat.
The money came just in time. The "new poverty" had added a thousand new families that PATH was helping in 2009, said PATH's Executive Director Christina Fulsom.
"That's a lot of parents and children who didn't need PATH just a few months ago, and now need us. What we're seeing that's new is called 'asset poverty.' It means people who don't have enough assets in reserve to weather losing their jobs," she said. "Poverty a year ago meant "generational,' but today it's 'situational.'"
Her words demonstrate something unique about PATH: It's truly concerned about people, not just poverty.
Of course, PATH helps people pay their rent and utilities, helps purchase prescription drugs and feeds families from its food pantry - but it also teaches life skills to adults, finds mentors for at-risk children and organizes many other programs to help those in need with more than merely the material.
Compassion cannot be legislated nor simply funded. It can only come from hearts willing to suffer alongside those in need. And that's why we are so blessed to have PATH in our community.
