A good team: Directors of Crisis Office retire after 15 years of service

After nearly 15 years of service, Marge Hittle, left, and Patty Colbert retired as co-directors of the archdiocesan Crisis Office on June 25. The two women became friends while serving the poor and underemployed in Indianapolis. (Photo by Kamilla Benko)

By Kamilla Benko

Friends of Marge Hittle and Patty Colbert say the two women share one brain.

After nearly 15 years of friendship, they know each other so well that Hittle supplies the grade that Colbert’s grandchildren are in at school when Colbert can’t remember. They even finish each others’ sentences.

But their friendship is not exclusive. Their compatibility, friendship and energy have helped the underemployed, working poor and homeless in Indiana.

On June 25, Hittle and Colbert retired as co-directors of the Crisis Office, an emergency assistance program of Catholic Charities Indianapolis.

The two women became co-directors in 1996, but their friendship began almost two years earlier.

Colbert, who had worked as a caseworker for the state of Michigan, volunteered at the Crisis Office in 1994.

“I came here, and Marge was already volunteering,” Colbert said. “I met Marge, and we just hit it off. We got along really well.”

They continued volunteering, and when the Crisis Office director left, the two women were asked to become co-directors.

“We wanted to job share,” explained Hittle. “The load was getting heavier, and [the Crisis Office] really needed two people.”

The Crisis Office serves an average of 30 to 40 low-income families each day.

“We assess their need, and decide whether we can help them,” Hittle said. “If we cannot materially or financially help them, they always leave with referrals and information of where in the community they can get help.”

The Crisis Office provides clothes, food, and hygiene and paper products to those people who can’t afford them. Volunteers and employees of the Crisis Office sometimes help clients attain birth certificates, transportation tickets and medicine. In addition, they also hand out Bibles and rosaries to people who request them.

The Crisis Office is mostly supported by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, United Way and private donations. The majority of workers at the Crisis Office are volunteers.

“The program is volunteer driven,” said Colbert. “If it wasn’t for the volunteers, there would not be a program.”

Many volunteers return again and again, Hittle said.

“It’s contagious,” Hittle said. “Once you’re here, you cannot leave. It’s the reason we have been here so long.”

Trying to clarify, she added, “It’s more of a ministry than …

“… it is a job,” both women finished the sentence at the same time.

It is the success stories and the people they help and volunteer with that make both women so happy.

Colbert remembers one client that the Crisis Office successfully helped. The man used to visit the Crisis Office for assistance, but now he is able to donate to the organization that once helped him.

“I won’t say he’s comfortable,” Colbert said, “but he now comes back periodically and gives us money.”

Hittle took up the story from there: “He tells us to pass it along for bus tickets for somebody else because we helped him keep his job.”

But not all the stories are happy ones. Hittle and Colbert said they will not miss saying “no” to people.

“I won’t miss feeling frustrated when we don’t have enough stuff,” Colbert said. “Sometimes, there are some people whose needs are so great, you just can’t help them.”

Although they have left the Crisis Office, both women said they expect to continue being involved in the community.

“You just can’t leave volunteering,” Hittle said.

With her free time, Hittle said she is going to spend more time with her grandchildren and get her new house in order.

Colbert also said she wants to spend more time with her grandchildren, and is moving to Massachusetts to be closer to them.

Still, it will be hard for the women to leave the ministry they love so much.

“We’ve thought about leaving for the last couple of years,” Colbert said. “We just haven’t been able to tear ourselves away unless we can leave it in good hands.”

Stephanie Davis, they believe, has the good hands that the office needs.

“She is very enthusiastic and has high energy, and she loves the program already,” Hittle said.

Davis said she is both nervous and excited to take over as director from the two friends.

“I have never met two individuals who complement each other so well. [They are] the ying and yang,” Davis said.

“Those are some big shoes to fill. And it’s not just two shoes I have to fill, but four.” †