Program will offer financial assistance

Blair County attorneys and financial experts are working on a program that could direct local residents with financial problems to places where they can get help.

The effort is part of a program called "Get Help Now, Pennsylvania" touted by Gov. Ed Rendell and his wife, Marjorie, who is a judge on the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Attorney Susan Etter of the Pennsylvania Bar Association said Monday that the Blair County program will kick off from 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Downtown Devorris Center.

One of the concerns behind the creation of the program is that there were more than 115,000 homeowners behind on their mortgage payments during the first third of 2009. There were 42,949 mortgage foreclosures in the state in 2008.

The president of the Blair County Bar Association, attorney Mary Lou Maierhofer, said the judges and attorneys in Blair County are not ignoring the economic problems people are experiencing.

She said the county has successfully implemented a credit card court to resolve the hundreds of credit card foreclosure cases being filed in the Blair County Court.

Blair also is experiencing hundreds of mortgage foreclosures and is considering a court-sponsored mortgage foreclosure program.

Additionally, the local bar association sponsors a "call for action" program, under which people can contact attorneys on legal matters.

According to the Pennsylvania Bar Association, a Blair County attorney and a financial expert such as a banker will be available from 1 to 6 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday at the Downtown Devorris Center for the next several months to meet with individuals.

Maierhofer said the legal and financial experts will be able to refer people facing financial difficulties to local agencies where they can receive help.

"I think we are very proactive on the local level involving the judiciary and the bar association," she said.

Attorney Diana Ingersoll, an attorney with Mid-Penn Legal Services, has assisted with the credit card court and has helped Maierhofer put together a list of agencies that may be able to help those in financial trouble.

She said her agency, Mid-Penn, will probably be among the agencies where people are sent for help.

"It's a good program, a good idea," she said of the Get Help effort.

The program is expected to last several months, but the specifics need to be worked out, Ingersoll and Maierhofer said.

The Blair County center is expected to serve Cambria and Somerset counties, as well.

Bedford County will have a Get Help center at Heartland Hall, 5564 Business Route 220.

Mirror Staff Writer Phil Ray is at 946-7468.