People Attempting To Help Director Seeking Road Out Of Dilemma
Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.
CONCERNED: “We need money now,” said Christina Fulsom, executive director of Tyler’s People Attempting To Help on Thursday. A rocky economy is creating more need while simultaneously stemming the flow of aid from donors needed to help the increasing calls for help.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series on the work of People Attempting To Help.
By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
The soul of Tyler’s People Attempting To Help is its people, said PATH executive director Christina Fulsom on Thursday. But the noble attempt of the homegrown faith-based attempt to help Tyler’s struggling citizens is in uncertain economic times.
By PATRICK BUTLER
Religion Editor
The soul of Tyler’s People Attempting To Help is its people, said PATH executive director Christina Fulsom on Thursday. But the noble attempt of the homegrown faith-based attempt to help Tyler’s struggling citizens is in uncertain economic times.
“We’re caught in a vicious cycle,” Mrs. Fulsom said at PATH’s headquarters at 402 W. Front St. “As prices go up, the people who were already struggling are now carrying a heavier load. Then people who were living on the brink to begin with have gone over it and are coming to us for help.”
But the hard part is not more people coming or the lack of willingness to help, she said.
“People who normally give funds to PATH are being pinched, too, and giving is down. At the very moment more people are coming for assistance in an uncertain economy, resources have diminished.
Christina Fulsom is not the worrying type or hits the panic button often. In the past five years, Mrs. Fulsom has steadily guided PATH to renovation, growth, rebirth and expansion. She’s not in a panic now, she said, but hitting the button is not far off.
“It’s not time yet, but if things continue as they do — if more people come and funds go down — in about 30 days it will be time to hit the panic button. What we need is money.”
The juxtaposition of Mrs. Fulsom’s calm demeanor and the need before her belies the seriousness of the situation. She quietly surveys facts, figures and stories of people whom PATH has helped on the table before her.
“Soon we’ll have to start turning people away.” Looking up, she added. “That’s unacceptable.”
That seems to be the spirit of PATH in a nutshell. The hundreds of volunteers simply refuse to lose sight of their vision — to empower and encourage Smith County’s citizens and help them to become productive citizens. They do it by equipping the volunteers with tools and training, then turning them toward the economically distressed with emergency assistance and PATH’s variety of programs — food and shelter assistance, an education program, family support and development, a children’s mentoring program and prescription assistance.
Fulsom focuses on the latter program.
“We had a man who had his legs amputated because he couldn’t afford medications,” she said. “There are so many senior citizens out there that have to make the daily choice between food, rent or medications. A lot of these situations are life-threatening, or like this, permanently disabling.”
“We had a man who had his legs amputated because he couldn’t afford medications,” she said. “There are so many senior citizens out there that have to make the daily choice between food, rent or medications. A lot of these situations are life-threatening, or like this, permanently disabling.”
She ticks off more examples on her fingers; a 72-year-old man has a heat stroke because he cannot cool his home; a mother with two young children returns to an abusive home situation because she cannot afford rent on her own; a 54-year-old woman and her disabled sister sleep on the floor of a gym because they were evicted; a frustrated father yells at his daughter because he cannot read and is not able to help her with a homework assignment; a 2-year-old boy cries himself to sleep because he is hungry.
“Can you imagine that?” she said. “Two years old and you’re crying at bedtime because there is nothing to eat and you’re hungry.”
Mrs. Fulsom leans forward over the papers that explain PATH. Wrinkles appear on her forehead as her expression suddenly becomes serious. The reality of what PATH does in the lives of desperate people cannot be underestimated, it seems, and her words are clearly a personal passion.
“What I’d like people to know is that we’re helping people in a far-off foreign land. We’re helping us, people right here in Smith County,” She said. “The percentage of those who abuse the services we offer is so small that it’s negligible. These people really need help. It’s not giving a handout. We help people up with literacy, stabilization or prescription assistance. At PATH, you definitely get more bang for the buck.”
For more information or to make an online donation to PATH, visit the Web at www.tylerpath.org.
Updated Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 5:41 p.m. CDT
Updated Saturday, May 17, 2008 at 5:41 p.m. CDT
FAQ
Search Forums
Log in
Register
