Love Your Neighbor Emergency Assistance

Covid 19 Emergency Immigrant Fund now Story County Immigrant and Refugee Collaboration.

Read the announcement of the transistion and see what you can do to help with this new Collaboration.

The Love Your Neighbor (LYN) fund provides emergency assistance to Story County families.

LYN is funded by the tithe of 3.00% of the parish collection, including envelopes, loose change, and direct deposits. LYN also accepts donations from individuals, and occasional grants from other sources. Ten parishioners volunteer to interview those who come to the parish seeking help. The majority of this assistance is for homelessness prevention in the form of rent and utility payments.

To Qualify for Assistance

•  A household must not have received assistance from the parish fund within the previous 12 months.  If a household has been helped 3 times in the last 5 years, the wait period to help again will be 24 months.
• Appointment calls are accepted only during office hours, currently, 9am to 12noon on Thursdays. Tuesday appointments are limited, and to fairly schedule appointments, voice mail messages cannot be accepted, and if left, will not be returned.
• For the foreseeable future, no face-to-face interviews are being held for rent and utility assistance. The information you provide will be sent, along with the required paperwork, to an interviewer who will call applicants.  The interviewer will then return the paperwork to St. Thomas with their comments and the amount of assistance which they approved.

Rent and Utility Assistance Process 

• Requests for assistance will be received by phone (515-292-3810) on THURSDAYs only, between 9am and 12noon and appointments are scheduled for the following Tuesday morning.
• We are not currently doing face to face interviews for rent and utility assistance.
• The information you provide is sent, along with required paperwork, to an interviewer who will call you following the phone interviews.  The interviewer returns the paperwork with comments and the amount of approved assistance to the church office.
• Please Note: No application will be processed until we receive your required paperwork.

Submission of Required Paperwork.

• Paperwork may be submitted in person or via email. If using email,([email protected]) we prefer the paperwork is sent as a PDF document. If you are sending by e-mail the following requirements apply:
• In all submissions, documents must be vertical Files or photos must show the complete document and be readable. Documents not meeting the requirements will be rejected and your application will be held up until we receive proper documents.
• Paper copies must be delivered to the St. Thomas Aquinas parish office at 2210 Lincoln Way during normal office hours.

Paperwork needed for rental assistance.

1. Story County Community Services

• Story County Community Services notice of application decision.
• Phone: 515-663-2930

2. A copy of your lease showing your name and signature.

3. Documentation from your landlord with the following information

• Landlord’s name and address Your name, your address Amount of rent past due.

Paperwork needed for utility assistance.

1. Story County Community Services

• Story County Community Services notice of application decision.
• Phone: 515-663-2930

2. Mid-Iowa Community Action Agency (MICA)

• Phone: 515-956-3333

3. A copy of your past due utility bill

All assistance checks are sent directly to landlords or utility companies.

For more information about the program or how to volunteer, contact [email protected]