Introduction
Poverty is a global problem today. It is no longer true that poverty concerns only Third World countries. Almost all countries acknowledge the existence of poor individuals and families. Poverty needs to be understood in a comprehensive way, because it appears in every sphere of a person’s life and leaves a feeling of trampling on human dignity (Vancáková, 2014).
According to the National Framework Strategy for Social Inclusion and the Fight against Poverty (p. 5), “since 2010, the Europe 2020 strategy has been in force, which places the fight against poverty and social exclusion among the main goals of the European Union. Unlike previous periods, it contains a transparent, quantified commitment in this area. The Slovak Republic has joined this common effort and wants to contribute to the common goal of reducing the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 170,000 by 2020. The National Framework Strategy for Social Inclusion and the Fight against Poverty is based on the national objective in the area of combating poverty and social exclusion and provides an overview of the premises, priorities and social inclusion policies in this area, mechanisms for monitoring development in the field, and formulates principles and forms of cooperation with key actors.”
Family poverty entails a threat to several human rights. It affects inadequate nutrition, restricted access to education, health care, the inability to integrate into the school collective through supplementary school activities, as well as lack of participation in cultural life. In Lighthouse of Hope, we specifically focus on supporting endangered human rights and human dignity of families in need.
Lighthouse of Hope strives to fight social exclusion and support the social inclusion of families in need, who often feel on the margins of society. They implement this at individual, group, and community levels.
The Civic Association Lighthouse of Hope and Its Activities
The civic association Lighthouse of Hope was founded by registration at the Ministry of the Interior of the Slovak Republic in June 2010 and operates in Košice. Its main purpose is to help families in material and social need. Lighthouse of Hope focuses on whole families and also on their individual members. We are aware of the importance of the family in the world, and therefore our goal is to accompany families through difficult situations, from which they cannot get out on their own without help. These are often families that are despairing after many negative experiences and years lived in poverty (Vancáková, 2014; Vancáková, 2015).
The recipients of help are single mothers with small children, large poor families, and widows with dependent children. The majority of clients are single mothers with small children. Many have been victims of domestic violence, or lived with husbands dependent on alcohol and drugs, while others became single mothers. Many families have experienced intergenerational poverty. They primarily live in crisis centers, social apartments, and garden cottages. Only few have their own housing in a flat or house. Lighthouse of Hope accompanies families who have come into a state of need through no fault of their own. Its mission is to offer them a helping hand at a time when they cannot manage alone and do not have enough resources to overcome a difficult life situation. In these families, some basic needs remain unsatisfied (Vancáková, 2015; Vancáková, 2016).
Lighthouse of Hope provides help mainly to families in need from Košice and the nearby region. The reason is simple: association members try to help these families regularly, in an organized way, and build relationships with them. These newly formed relationships can be a kind of motivation for families in need to start over and regain motivation to fight again. Help to the family is also conditional on regular attendance at creative workshops and formation meetings, which would be difficult for families from a distance (Vancáková, 2014).
Lighthouse of Hope’s mission is the protection of human dignity, the mitigation and removal of the causes of moral and material deprivation in families in need.
The goals of the civic association Lighthouse of Hope are: a) field social work and social counselling for families in material and social need, b) financial and material assistance for families in material and social need, c) activities in the social and educational sphere for families in material and social need, d) educational, research, and publishing activity in the area of help to families in material and social need. The association’s activities in achieving its goals consist mainly of: a) field social work with families in material and social need, b) social counselling for families in material and social need, c) financial and material help for families in material and social need, d) purchase or provision of specific material needs for households of families in material and social need, e) food aid for families in material and social need, f) distribution of clothing, footwear, toiletries, and school supplies, g) formation and educational activities for families, especially lectures by experts in financial management and child-rearing, h) project activities focused on helping families in material and social need, i) creative workshops for families aimed at social inclusion and the formation of work habits, j) funding of camps, cultural events, and educational programs for children from socially disadvantaged families, k) professional training and formation of members and volunteers of the association, l) education of professional and general publics through lectures and conferences on work with families in material and social need, m) implementation of research in the area of work with families in material and social need, n) publication of books and articles on work with families in material and social need (Statutes of the civic association Lighthouse of Hope).
Lighthouse of Hope has a registered outreach crisis intervention social service and a low-threshold social service for children and families.
The outreach crisis intervention social service is provided under Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on Social Services § 24a, according to which this social service is provided to a natural person in an adverse social situation according to § 2(2)(a), (b), (d), (g) to (i). The target group of Lighthouse of Hope are families in material and social need with minor children. The content includes activities aimed at outreach to such persons, professional activities, support activities, and other activities focused mainly on carrying out preventive action, providing social counselling, social rehabilitation, assistance in exercising rights and legally protected interests, and creating conditions for food distribution.
The low-threshold social service for children and the family is provided under Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on Social Services § 28, according to which this social service is provided to a natural person in an adverse social situation according to § 2(2)(b) and his or her family. The target group of Lighthouse of Hope are families in material and social need with minor children. Within this service, social counselling, social rehabilitation, preventive action, help in asserting rights and legally protected interests, help with preparation for schooling, and interest-based activities are provided.
Possibilities of Helping Families in Need
Lighthouse of Hope has been working on helping families in material and social need for more than 10 years. It continues to deepen its understanding of their needs and tries to respond by broadening the types of help and activities.
Methods of Helping Families in Need
Lighthouse of Hope’s clients are families in material and social need. Families are offered a wide range of activities and forms of help based on a holistic approach, that is, the person is viewed as a bio-psycho-social-spiritual being.
Social counselling
In counselling for families in material and social need, Lighthouse of Hope focuses on the social area (help with material need and other benefits and allowances,...), employment (help with job seeking, support in writing CVs and cover letters, support in preparing for job interviews,...), family (communication between spouses and between parents and children, child-rearing,...), financial (effective money management, family budget, installment schedules,...), legal (enforcement of child support, help with obtaining annulment of marriage—divorce,...), health (help with obtaining an invalidity pension, disability card, compensatory allowances, guidance in hygienic habits,...), educational (arranging necessary courses for clients that better enable them to get employed,...).
Social counselling is provided in ambulatory form, where the client comes to the social workers’ office, or in outreach form, where workers go to the client’s home.
Outreach social work
Many social interventions take place in a field form directly in the family home. For mothers with small children or family members with health disabilities, this is a way to access help because they sometimes cannot find time to come to the office, or it is difficult for them to go out with small children, so workers visit them instead. It is also advantageous that clients feel more secure in their own environment and communication is easier.
Creative workshops
Among the most important activities of Lighthouse of Hope are creative workshops focused on developing work habits and skills, since most mothers are long-term unemployed, or have never been employed at all. Several groups were created, with each group having workshops once a week (morning or afternoon, depending on the family situation). Each mother is involved in one group, and therefore attends creative workshops once a week. There are several kinds of workshops: some are focused on sewing, others on making bead jewelry (necklaces, bracelets, rosaries, ...), others on making gift soaps and candles.
The aim of the creative workshops is to shape work habits and develop the work skills of mothers from families in material and social need who are mostly long-term unemployed or have never been employed. This is intended to facilitate their entry into the labor market. At the same time, through work activity, self-realization and a sense of usefulness among mothers are strengthened; they often feel that they are on the margins of society. By creating groups, it also creates space for relationship building, community, a support base for sharing, and mutual help among mothers.
Family formation meetings
Lighthouse of Hope organizes formation meetings for families once a month (Saturday afternoon), focused on personal growth. It is a roughly two-hour meeting where practical lectures are prepared for mothers (for example on forgiveness, gratitude, anger, signs of love...). After the lecture, participants are divided into small groups, each led by a member of Lighthouse of Hope. In the groups, they share on the chosen topic according to prepared questions.
Volunteers care for the children during that time and prepare sports, movement, social, and intellectual games for them.
Educational support
Many parents only have basic education, or a trade school diploma. They usually only possess vocabulary and life habits of a lower social class. Therefore, Lighthouse of Hope also supports them in intellectual matters. They organize financial courses where parents learn how to manage money and how not to fall for high-interest lending.
Since families have major problems with child-rearing, Lighthouse of Hope provides parenting courses so they can learn how to handle upbringing and various problems of their children.
Children are included in a motivational scholarship program—in cooperation with a priest, who secures funds from sponsors for the payment of these scholarships.
Tutoring for children
Lighthouse of Hope also offers tutoring for children. It has volunteers—high school students—who regularly spend one hour each week individually with the children. They mainly tutor English, since their parents usually only completed primary school and do not know English at all. The goal is to create a positive attitude toward education in the children and help them improve their marks, giving them better prospects for the future.
Lectures for children
Lighthouse of Hope regularly prepares practical and engaging educational activities for children once a month. Volunteers—medics and psychology students—prepare topics for children such as first aid, hygiene, healthy lifestyle, healthy nutrition, recycling, bullying, and so on. This way, children can learn new habits through an interactive format.
Psychological workshops
One of the activities focused on parental personal formation is psychological workshops led by a volunteer psychologist. Within these workshops, topics such as self-awareness, communication, conflict resolution, and others are discussed. They also include various tests and practical exercises.
Film evenings
Not every family has equipment with which they could watch DVDs. Lighthouse of Hope organizes joint film evenings, where families watch a meaningful film together and then discuss it and share their observations. Lighthouse of Hope also offers various DVDs for loan—hagiographies, true stories, films with a deep moral message, and so on—that families can borrow for home viewing.
Mentoring
Lighthouse of Hope also offers mentoring. Volunteers work with children individually, taking them to the swimming pool, equine therapy, church, or nature. For children and young people, having an older role model as a friend is a great benefit, someone they can turn to when things are difficult.
Cultural activities
Lighthouse of Hope tries to help families in need in all areas of life. Alongside basic needs, members of the association also focus on cultural formation of families.
They do not forget the youngest and strive to fulfill children’s dreams and give them what they cannot afford. With children and young people, they go to puppet theaters, cinemas, zoos, botanic gardens, museums, and various exhibitions. For many children this is their first visit to theater, cinema, or a zoo.
With parents they go to the national theater. Although they realize this is not a basic need, the last time they were in the national theater, as some clients said, they did not recognize some of themselves, and they enjoyed it. They are used to only the place where they live and do not go anywhere. They often meet only people with similar problems and seem to have adapted to a “lower class of society.” But in the theater, when they dress ceremonially, comb their hair, and apply makeup, they do not feel “socially excluded”; instead they feel part of society. At the same time, it also forms social habits.
Sports activities
Children from socially disadvantaged environments do not have the same opportunities for leisure as their peers. Therefore, in Lighthouse of Hope, they also focus on sporting recreation for children from families in need. Thanks to projects, they can buy season passes for swimming pools and gyms. The children thus go swimming or strength train regularly. They also have the possibility to go horseback riding and attend hippotherapy.
Family outings
Families in need struggle for daily survival, trying to secure only the most basic needs—food and housing. Their possibilities are narrowly limited. They do not have the same opportunities as normally functioning families. Most have never been outside Košice. They do not go on outings. Their free time is often spent in front of the TV. Therefore, Lighthouse of Hope began organizing family outings. The goal is to provide families with outing experiences, develop a positive relationship with healthy outdoor activity, teach families to spend family free time effectively, and strengthen intergenerational bonding between children and parents.
The outings are one-day events during weekends or public holidays. Families have already visited a contact zoo, the High Tatras, Jasov Cave, and have done a bonfire in a nearby forest.
Camps
Children from socially disadvantaged families could never afford a summer camp, so every summer Lighthouse of Hope subsidizes different summer camps for children and young people. This allows them to experience joyful moments with their peers, forget for a while their parents’ daily financial struggle, and taste playful, carefree childhood.
Spiritual counselling
“Not by bread alone does a person live” (Mt 4,4), and therefore, if families show interest, members of Lighthouse of Hope try to lead them spiritually as well. They have biblical meetings for mothers with a priest and, according to their interest, they provide preparation for the sacraments (baptism, confirmation, reconciliation, marriage). They also offer and subsidize spiritual retreats for families. Faith is, of course, a free human choice, and therefore families choose spiritual activities based on their own interest.
Bible studies
For parents, there are regular Bible studies led by a vicar. In them they can learn Scripture and deepen their relationship with God. Many discover values that become guiding principles in their life. Mothers’ participation is also voluntary.
Reading room
In the new “Relax” room of Lighthouse of Hope, a reading room for families has also been established. Parents may come with children for coffee or tea and read books that are available there free of charge. The books can also be borrowed for home. The collection includes books on different subjects: fairy tales for children, books for youth, motivational stories, books on upbringing and relationships, healthy nutrition, and also spiritual literature.
Material assistance
Lighthouse of Hope regularly helps its client families through donations of food, toiletries, clothing, school supplies, and household or furniture needs.
Food is among basic human needs. Some days families have no food at all. On other days, their diet is usually monotonous and simple. Fruit, vegetables, sweets, or meat are rare for them. They also have problems with everyday toiletries. It is not uncommon for them to wash their hair with soap. Their living conditions are basic; beds, carpets, and even tables and chairs are often missing. Washing machines are also missing, so many mothers wash everything by hand. Workers and volunteers of Lighthouse of Hope help families, through donors, to equip their homes to the most necessary level.
Lighthouse of Hope also tries to shape charitable awareness among elementary and secondary school students. It has developed cooperation with several schools that organize regular collections of food and toiletries for families in need. They also collect meal tickets, which are given to families, or buy groceries for them. Sometimes companies also donate products, especially toilet paper and school supplies, which then go to families in need.
Financial assistance
In the Lighthouse of Hope database there are families that often lack basic requirements for life (regular food, medication, clothing, suitable housing, or money to pay rent,...). Many families live in deteriorated garden cottages, crisis centers, or social apartments. Each month they struggle to manage rent payments. Some have lived for years without electricity or standard household appliances. Children have no toys, sleep on the floor, and go to school hungry.
Lighthouse of Hope helps families mainly by paying rent, medicines, fees for kindergartens and schools, and travel tickets to school (public transport).
Funds are gathered by contacting sponsors—both individuals and legal entities—and by organizing charity sales of creative workshop products in parishes, schools, and companies during public fundraisers.
In financial help, strict criteria are set so that assistance is not misused, and so that it is not directed where it is not actually needed, or so that families do not come to rely on regular support (financial help is not regular). Each family is worked with in a long-term and intensive way. They do not want to raise passive recipients among clients, so they require cooperation from clients/families, so it is not one-way assistance that does not lead to growth, but instead to decline and greater dependency. Therefore, financial help is conditioned on participation in creative workshops and educational activities, where they can see that clients have an interest in active participation in changing their difficult situation.
Activities Aimed at the Public
In recent years, Lighthouse of Hope has also focused on activities directed toward the public so that, through awareness-raising, it helps improve the crisis situation of families in need.
Conferences
Lighthouse of Hope organizes once a year for the broader lay and professional public an international scientific conference called “The Person on the Periphery of Society,” with each year having a subtheme focused on helping people in need. The conference is held in October on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty and on the occasion of the anniversary of the founding of Lighthouse of Hope.
The aim of the conferences is a practical presentation of the organization, focusing on help for people in need, presenting concrete methods of working with people in need, forms of support, and practical testimonies from work with people on the margins of society. Networking among helping organizations, domestic and international, focused on people on the margins of society is also an important aspect. The conferences also provide space for the exchange of good-practice experiences among helping organizations working with people on the margins of society. They offer room for discussion and the search for effective ways to address the problem of social exclusion and for identifying innovative models of help for such persons.
So far, Lighthouse of Hope has organized five editions of the conference: The Person on the Periphery of Society (15.10.2015), The Person on the Periphery of Society—Mercy in Practice (19–20.10.2016), The Person on the Periphery of Society—Suffering and Its Meaning (18.10.2017), The Person on the Periphery of Society—A Child in Danger (24.10.2018), The Person on the Periphery of Society—Solving Crisis Situations (23.10.2019). The outcome of each conference is also a peer-reviewed proceedings volume, through which information can be disseminated further. These volumes are available online on the website of Lighthouse of Hope.
Lectures in schools
School is the second socialization environment after family, and it shapes children’s attitudes and behavior. It is important for school to lead students toward values and attitudes that protect human rights and the dignity of every person.
Many students and even teachers cannot realistically imagine life in poverty, while sometimes this may even refer to their neighbors living only a few meters away. Members of Lighthouse of Hope often encounter the fact that socially disadvantaged children are mocked by classmates because they do not have a snack or modern clothing, and children then feel ashamed to go to school, which can result in truancy. Teachers also take family technical equipment for granted, but families in need do not have computers, so children cannot complete various school tasks. Many children hurt classmates through ridicule because they do not even realize their difficult situation and especially not the impact ridicule has on the targeted child.
Lighthouse of Hope has been involved in school lectures for several years, in order to bring families’ situation to students and outline ways to help. The lectures focus on the social standing of poor families in society, their crisis situation and the problems they face, and also forms of help. They focus on human rights and human dignity of people living in poverty. They also include recommendations on how to behave toward peers who are directly affected by poverty.
Lighthouse of Hope has already built contacts and cooperation with several schools in Košice and nearby areas. They see openness and enthusiasm there for supporting families in need. There are schools that, besides forming the mind, also focus on formation of the heart, which is highly desirable in today’s society.
Research activity
In recent years, Lighthouse of Hope has also engaged in research activity focused on the crisis situation of families in need and possibilities of help.
It has completed several studies on the situation of families in need. These studies point to the crisis state of families, unsuitable living conditions in which they live, insufficient internal resources of these families, who are on the margins of society, and insufficient external resources that could help improve their life situations. On the basis of these studies, scientific monographs and articles were published that identify the current state of families in need and also possibilities of help.
Publishing activity
As part of awareness-raising, Lighthouse of Hope has also begun publishing activity. It has published several scientific monographs, co-authored monographs, peer-reviewed proceedings volumes, and professional articles focused on the crisis situation of families in need and ways of helping them. Among the books, these are especially: Rodiny v núdzi (Vancáková, S.), Aktivity Cirkvi zamerané na pomoc rodinám (Vancáková, S.), Rodina a pomoc štátu … reality, or utopia? (Vancáková, S.), Milosrdenstvo voči trpiacim (Vancáková, S. and colleagues), Utrpenie bolí, ale má zmysel (Vancáková, S. and colleagues), Kríza – čo s ňou? Príbehy, ktoré píše život a riešia odborníci (Vancáková, S. and colleagues), and others.
They also publish the journal “Maják nádeje – a journal on families in need,” which is issued twice a year.
Information about all publications is available on the website of Lighthouse of Hope www.majak-nadeje.eu.
Conclusion
For more than 10 years, Lighthouse of Hope has been intensely dedicated to helping families in need. They deeply understand the needs of families in need and are constantly seeking new activities and kinds of help to best and most comprehensively assist in changing the difficult situation of families in need. They help family members on both individual and group levels, and they also have activities at the community level. They also focus on awareness-raising, research, and publishing activities.
For families in need, Lighthouse of Hope provides social counselling, outreach social work, creative workshops, formation meetings, educational support, tutoring for children, lectures for children, psychological workshops, film evenings, mentoring, cultural activities, sports activities, family outings, spiritual counselling, Bible meetings, material and financial help. Their public-oriented activities include organizing conferences, school lectures, research, and publishing books and a journal focused on the crisis situation of people in need and possibilities for help.
We can state that this is comprehensive help covering all dimensions of the person—biological, psychological, social, and spiritual. These methods of help lead families toward progress and improved quality of life.
Lighthouse of Hope workers and volunteers strive to be a support for families and to walk beside them in their life crisis. The time they spend with families is balm for the souls of these mothers who have been deeply tested by life. Their generosity, empathy, and selfless love for the poor are the true beacon that saves families in need.
And as the founder of Lighthouse of Hope, S. Vancáková, expressed (2014, pp. 11–12): “In working with a poor person, we have two possibilities: to be here for the poor and to be here with the poor. One must realize that being with the poor is much more than giving bread to the poor.”
Author: PhDr. Michaela Šuľová, PhD. Teologická fakulta Katolíckej univerzity, Maják nádeje
Literature used
MAJÁK NÁDEJE. Statutes of the civic association Lighthouse of Hope. 2010. National Framework Strategy for the Support of Social Inclusion and the Fight against Poverty. 73 p. Holy Scripture. 2009. Trnava: SSV. 1612 p. ISBN 978-80-7162-777-7. VANCÁKOVÁ, S. 2015. Aktivity Cirkvi zamerané na pomoc rodinám. Ružomberok: Verbum. 112 p. ISBN 978-80-561-0277-0. VANCÁKOVÁ, S. 2016. Občianske združenie Maják nádeje – pre rodiny v núdzi. Košice: Equilibria. 40 p. ISBN 978-80-8143-188-3. VANCÁKOVÁ, S. 2014. Rodiny v núdzi. Częstochowa: Wydawnictwo Educator. 124 p. ISBN 978-83-7542-108-8. Act No. 448/2008 Coll. on Social Services and on the amendment and completion of Act No. 455/1991 Coll. on Trade in Self-Employment in the wording of subsequent regulations.