East Dundee church tries to help members with money woes

The last year has not been kind to Sheri Jonas.

The Dundee Township woman's husband, a skilled laborer, was laid off forcing the mother of two to take on a part-time job and refocus her efforts on scrimping and saving everywhere she can.

"Just the way the economy has been going, we've really had to crunch down on our spending," Jonas said. "I hope to learn how to better budget and save money when there is less coming in."

Jonas joined about a dozen members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in East Dundee on Sunday in the first week of a new money management program to help members better cope with the struggling economy. The six-week program deals with topics such as how to communicate with family members about money, how to deal with credit and debt, and ways to save during an economic downturn.

Many of the participants in Sunday's session have been touched by the struggling economy in some way. Some have either lost a job themselves or have lost money in their retirement savings.

Eileen Hawkey, a volunteer organizer with Immanuel Lutheran, said Sunday's program grew in response to three recent fundraising campaigns at the church, the latest of which ended about a year ago.

"We had many of our members openly tell us the only time we ever talked about money is when we wanted some," she said. "There is a true need for this sort of education for a lot of our members. We hope this becomes an avenue for them to cope with these hard economic times."

The demand for such programming has certainly increased in the last year, said Nancy Winterburg, a manager with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the organization which runs the financial workshops. About 30 such programs are scheduled in Chicago-area churches in the first quarter of the year, Winterburg said, more than double the amount organized this time last year.

"We're hearing it from many area churches," Winterburg said. "They need this sort of help. Lots of people are losing their jobs, and that's been a big wake-up call for people to start figuring out how to better manage their money."