ST. FRANCIS EMPLOYEES HELP EACH OTHER IN TIMES OF CRISIS

What happened if disaster struck -- your home burned down or a serious illness drained your family's resources. Where could you turn?

At St. Francis Medical Center, employees can turn to each other. For the past two years, the Caring Fund has helped about 45 employees facing crisis.

Employees held their second pledge drive earlier this month. Pledges are paid, mainly through payroll reductions, by employees over a two-year period. Edythe Davis, executive director of the St. Francis Foundation, announced this week that 607 employees promised $60,006 to the special fund in pledges or outright gifts.

Many of the families helped were people who never thought they would need financial assistance, said Davis.

"We helped five families who were burned out," she said. The fund helped them replace items that insurance didn't cover or provided money for a place to stay while repairs were made.

Several of the employees were helped with pressing financial problems after extended illnesses kept them from working. The fund helped save someone's home, when the bank was about to foreclose for nonpayment.

The crisis can be as simple as the only family car breaking down, so the employee can't get to work. The fund has helped employees with repairs.

Sometimes the fund helps with funeral arrangements, when a young person dies suddenly.

An employee fills out an application form for assistance, and all requests are considered by a committee from different departments. Requests must be based on some type of personal crisis. All requests are handled on a confidential basis.

The recipients, Davis said, are overwhelmed by the assistance. "With tears in her eyes, one employee said, `I can't tell you what this means. I was so scared and now I can sleep at night."

Davis said they had initially worried that the drive might hurt Area Wide United Way donations, but quite the opposite has happened. Pledges for both funds continue to grow each year.

"When people start giving, they find it's contagious," she said.