Ryan Corry

Submitted photo

We’ve just completed the Christmas season. We passed by trees where we could pick paper ornaments and generously buy a toy for a child. Or maybe we chose to adopt a family through our churches and community organizations. It’s practical, easy and heart-warming when we know the specific needs of a child or family.

At St. Vincent de Paul we wondered: What if that kind of “adopt a family” happened year-round? What if enough generous people raised their hands, as if to say, “If someone needs help, call me, I’ll help!”

How many people could we save from hardships and homelessness with such a system in place year-round?

That’s the hope St. Vincent de Paul offers with its Angels on Call program, an app-based “adopt a family” experience. When our social work team identifies families facing financial hardship, they load their profiles and stories into the program’s app. Through notifications, the app shares the needs of local families with a compassionate community of donor “Angels” ready and willing to help.

You can choose how often you’d like to help and at what dollar amount. Most importantly, you can read that family’s story, know exactly what you’re financing, and decide if it is the right time for you to give.

Imagine this: A single mom stays home from work to take care of her sick child for a week. No pay that week. Now, she’s behind on rent. Late fees build up. She eventually pays for the month passed, but she is now behind on the next month, incurring more fees until she can no longer catch up. She and her child are evicted.

This scenario isn’t just a possibility, it’s happening every day, all around us. One question I’m often asked is, “Why do I see more people who are homeless as I drive around the Valley?”

My answer is straight-forward: Rents are high (as compared to the times when many Arizonans moved here), housing vacancies are low and more people are being evicted. Families are being evicted when they experience a bump in the road, like a mom staying home to care for a sick child.

What if an Angel could adopt that mom and her son — just for that week she needed to stay home — so that they could afford full rent and remain housed?

We have 440 Angels who have signed up by downloading Angels on Call in the App Store or Google Play. And I know from living in Arizona for many years that if more Arizonans knew about Angels on Call, we might have thousands of Angels. But it starts with someone being number 441.

A mom stays home from work to take care of her sick child for a week. Will you raise your hand today? Will you be the neighbor who ensures that mom and her child don’t become the next faces you see on the street?

Editor’s note: Ryan Corry is the chief philanthropy officer at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul Phoenix. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.