NATCHEZ &8212; Growing old without close friends and family takes its toll on the elderly. Any of the clients of Peaceful End, a Catholic Charities program, stands as an example.

Martha Mitternight, Catholic Charities director in Natchez, said many elderly people are without advocates, people to care for them and help them to take care of the details of what becomes a complicated way of living.

&8220;They don&8217;t have transportation. The light bill may be so high that they don&8217;t spend much on groceries. Maybe they don&8217;t have a telephone,&8221; Mitternight said.

Daily life becomes bleaker by the day for some. &8220;There are many obstacles to living life,&8221; she said. &8220;They face difficulties each day that we don&8217;t think about.&8221;

Mamie Allen, a social worker with the Peaceful End program, has worries enough for the present. She worries even more for the future that aging men and women will face.

&8220;There are more and more seniors. We&8217;re going to have to have more programs to take care of them,&8221; she said, standing outside the house of one of her clients, an 87-year-old woman whose arthritis and cardiovascular disease keep her housebound.

Once inside, Allen sat with the client, quietly talking to her. The public transportation had not worked out; the steps were too steep and her knees too stiff.

&8220;Her income is too meager for her to pay for transportation,&8221; Allen said.

The client&8217;s electricity had been turned off. Allen worked with the power company to get it turned on again.

This client of the Peaceful End program is among the small group adopted by Assumption Catholic Church. &8220;We were looking for a way to serve,&8221; said Roy Chauvin, one of the leaders of the Assumption group.

&8220;We were looking for people who needed assistance, who really, really needed help, people who at the end of the month have to decide whether to buy groceries or prescriptions.&8221;

The Assumption group narrowed their focus to six people. Chauvin believes it is possible to reduce if not eliminate the suffering among the community&8217;s needy elderly.

He believes more groups might volunteer and begin to work one on one with cases such as the ones his church has adopted.

&8220;We started once a month bringing food,&8221; Chauvin said. &8220;My frustration is that I don&8217;t feel I&8217;m doing enough. How many more are out there?&8221;

Most are 80 or older. One served by his church is blind. &8220;They receive between $479 and $579 a month and get from $10 to a maximum of $34 in food stamps.&8221;

Chauvin searches the area for other programs that might provide help for this group. &8220;I see two groups with great needs for assistance,&8221; he said. &8220;The totally helpless are either children or the elderly. The children you can identify with. People&8217;s hearts will go out to children before older people.&8221;

They live alone, Chauvin said. Other people take advantage of them. &8220;They are scared. They lock themselves in the house.&8221;

Like Allen, Chauvin sees the problem as a growing one. &8220;It&8217;s not going away. It&8217;s going to get worse. And more needs to be done,&8221; he said.

&8220;We need more people thinking about how to solve the problem. My feeling is that if you are a Christian, it is your duty and responsibility to see that these people&8217;s needs are met.&8221;

A big frustration for Chauvin is finding enough people to make the one-on-one visits to all the elderly people he knows who are desperate for help.

&8220;We need people. We need the ideas, the solutions,&8221; he said. &8220;Government agencies do not take care of the problem.&8221;

The clients of Peaceful End and perhaps others not yet identified face difficulties the rest of the community does not think about, Mitternight said.

&8220;Some have cognitive difficulties. They are slowed down by physical difficulties. Sometimes it&8217;s more trouble than it&8217;s worth to fill out applications,&8221; she said.

Getting to a doctor&8217;s appointment can be a trial. &8220;When you&8217;re on Medicaid, you can get transportation to the doctor&8217;s office. You have to call three days before your appointment,&8221; she said.

Some have no phone. Allen said some lose the initiative to phone for transportation. &8220;They lose some of their will,&8221; she said.

Mitternight said the Catholic Charities program attempts to create some kind of network for the clients &8212; if not a family member then maybe a neighbor down the street.

&8220;You hear about it taking a village to raise a child. It takes a village to keep us all going. It takes all of us watching out for each other,&8221; she said.

The new food pantry organized by the Natchez ministerial alliance will be a big boost for helping the needy elderly, Chauvin said.

&8220;Then maybe we can give more money to them for utility bills rather than spending what we do now on food,&8221; he said.

Mitternight agreed, saying Allen will help the elderly clients to fill out eligibility forms. &8220;Certainly the elderly we&8217;re seeing will qualify for the program. Mamie will help them with the applications and pick up their boxes of food.&8221;

Chauvin said the &8220;common ordinary people in the community&8221; are the ones who will heal the misery among many of the elderly.

&8220;Lots of these people feel hopeless. They feel trapped, neglected, kicked out by their societies,&8221; he said. &8220;What if I were in their shoes?&8221;

He recalled walking into the kitchen of one client who was sitting at her kitchen table crying. He told her he had brought food.

&8220;She said to me, &8216;I didn&8217;t know what I was going to eat the rest of the month.&8217;&8221;

A program to match volunteers to the needy could one day be set up through the food pantry, Chauvin said.

Meanwhile, time is wasting. Making a difference in the lives of the elderly poor does not happen with one visit or one box of food.

&8220;It sometimes takes a while to build the trust between the worker and the person they want to help,&8221; Mitternight said.