To assistance an individual's or a family's attempt to reintegrate into society or to recover from a disaster. This process include not only providing the items for day to day living but also for providing the training to survive and the community to support and applaud his efforts.

Remember: It is not where they have been or how they got where they are it is about what they can become.

The individual is expected to help and to be the main effort in this process.

Remember: You are assisting the the individual or family and not taking on another child to raise. Therefore you assistance is limited to what you can do and not what the individual or family would like you to do. Do not let the person you are helping put you on a guilt trip for their problems. You have the right to say "No".

Set your limits.

Remember: As a chapter or individuals involved set you limits on what you can do to assist and certain ways you can offer to help and stick with your limits. Do not let the person you are helping push your buttons to get more than you expect to provide. And do not agree to provide more than you are able.

If you decide to do something other than you has previously planned to do them is must be a conscious decision by all of the people who originally decided on the limits. Do not just exceed your planned limits on strictly on emotions.

If you are going to help the individual come to your town then you may need to provide transportation and meals for the trip.

The individual or family will need someplace to live.

Remember: The individual being assisted probably has little or nothing to start the recovery process. One can not rent a place to live if there is no job and no savings. Paying the first months rent is almost a requirement of the assistance. Additional months assistance may also be needed while finding work.

In the apartment is unfurnished the individual or family will need some furniture.

DO NOT take the individuals into your home for a long period of time. This will defeat the entire effort by making them totally dependent upon you and your family and keep them from learning the necessary lessons to regain his independence.

The individual or family will need some clothing, shoes, dishes, glasses, coffee cups, coffee pot, cooking utensils, pots and pans.

Remember: This is a restart his life and there maybe nothing to restart with. Assess the situation and help provide the necessary items to restart life. To get a job he needs something to wear to work and shoes. This can be used clothing in good repair. If you do not have a clothing room at the church you may need to go to a resale shop to get clothing or buy new clothing.

Shoes are an important part of the package. The shoes must fit his feet and be comfortable.

The set of dishes, glasses and cups do not have to all match or be a service for a large number of people. But the dishes one eats off of often are part of that person's self image. If the dishes are chipped and broken then they begin to feel that way. The individual you are helping already feels chipped and broken do not reinforce those feelings. So provide a nice set of inexpensive dished. These can be picked up in garage sales, resale shops or at large outlet stores.

Coffee pots are an inexpensive part of life. Generally, coffee has been part of the daily routine for a long period of time. Therefore, a coffee pot is a necessity of life.

One needs cooking utensils to cook with. These need to be provided. Pots and pans allows doing some elementary cooking.

The individual or family will need some financial guidance.

Remember: The person being assisted maybe in the situation because of not knowing how to handle money. The idea of budgeting, saving some of each paycheck to pay bills maybe a foreign and unknown concept. Those being assisted may need to be trained and coached on how to use money to meet his financial obligations.
How to budget to anticipate the bills and other obligations.
How to set back some money to meet monthly bills and how to identify how much he has to live on.
How to set realistic financial goals.
How to use a bank to save for a large expenditure.

The individual or family will need some training in menu planning, food preparation and cleaning up afterwards.

Remember: The individuals being helped may or may not have the slightest ideas of how to cook a meal and may need some training. This training may have to start with the very elementary issues of food preparation: what the stuff is and how it is used. With each meal prepared confidence builds. This can be a very important psychological milestone as self dependence is discovered.

A real hurtle is meal planning. Many people do not know anything about meal planning or food preparation so they become limited to fast food and frozen entries. With a lot of patience these skills can be taught and the mystery of a grocery store revealed creating excitement about preparing food.

The individual or family will need a lot of encouragement and the feeling that he is part of a community that is concerned about those being assisted as a person.

Remember: The Brotherhood Chapter is a community. Men being assisted can be a part of this community with out having to pay national Brotherhood dues. He can just attend but to feel a real part of the community he needs to be a part of the Brotherhood. If necessary, the Diocesan Coordinator can arraign for the Brotherhood dues to be waived so that he received a membership card and the issues of the St. Andrew's Cross. This can accomplish a psychological milestone towards acceptance and independence which might otherwise be lost.

Include the men in all activities of the Chapter including work projects, chapter meeting and being part of the prayer chain.

Men, women and families can be assisted to attend church. Be sure to introduce them to members of the congregation. They many not feel comfortable in your church and that is OK and they many desire to be in the church atmosphere that fits his own background. Don't take offense but respect his decision.

Begin preparing for the adventure and develop a plan of action