She pins the can-do on you

Ruby Brower says in a grave voice that she has "bad news," and Marie Holley hangs her dejected head.

Brower, a life coach who's trying to inject self-empowerment into five women at the Mishawaka Food Pantry who are poor, down on their luck and at wit's end, says in a deadpan voice: "Santa ain't real."

Holley's tears flow because she cannot take any more setbacks.

"I need a place to stay," she sobs. "I've got income."

She bemoans the fact that, at 53, she receives Social Security disability payments since she's on dialysis and has seizures but is sleeping on a hard couch in someone else's home.

She moved from Michigan City to South Bend about three years ago and stayed first with her mom, then in a nursing home and then with other people.

"Every time I move, someone beats me out of my money," Holley says.

Then Brower tips her off to a one-bedroom apartment next to hers that's open. Holley jumps at it, and her relief emerges as a wide grin.

Two of the other women suggest apartments, too, but Holley wants this one so she "has someone to talk to."

Like the others who sign onto Brower's program, Holley had come to the pantry since she was hungry. But she was just picking at her food, she recalls, and "Miss Ruby came up to me and made me feel good."

Brower doesn't normally provide what the clients in her small-group sessions need. She calls her nonprofit effort I-FACD and explains with missionary zeal: "It's exactly what it says: I faced it. There's no E in I-FACD because there are no excuses. .... I'm not a counselor. I do not diagnose. I do not fix your problems. You do."

Santa surely won't.

"Come to a decision, make a plan and use your resources," Brower urges. "And don't leave out the support of the people here."

Hugs come easily. So does Brower's stack of clippings from The Tribune about free help and cheap entertainment. And so does the brainstorming among the group.

"This is all about relationships," she adds.

I-FACD stands for Individual Family and Community Development.

It's a holistic approach that factors in things like faith and good health. When desired, she advises clients on starting a business.

Brower says she holds a bachelor's degree in behavioral sciences from Andrews University and studied ministry for a while at Bethel College.

Marilyn Waumans, who's worked with the needy in Mishawaka for many years, read about Brower in an article in The Tribune several years ago, when Brower was running her program in Benton Harbor.