Imagine not having a job, enough food or enough money to meet your expenses. Then imagine what it would be like to have your heat cut off when the temperature outside is below freezing. Mick Basila, a volunteer at Catholic Charities Southwest Regional Center at St. Blase in Summit, helps the agency’s clients avoid that situation as part of a program he developed as a pilot more than a year ago. Basila, a retired information technology professional, uses a Web-based program called HelpEngen to help Catholic Charities clients find out what public benefits they can access, from nutrition aid for women, infants and children to temporary cash assistance and utility help through the Low Income Energy Assistance program. Now that program, and a similar effort, are in place at Catholic Charities sites throughout the city and suburbs, with the help of federal stimulus funding and a grant from the state’s department of human services. The program is simple, said Basila. Clients who come to get emergency food help from the Catholic Charities food pantry are asked if they have signed up for public benefits. If not, they meet with Basila or another volunteer in the program, who gives them a list of the documentation they need as well as an appointment to come back and enter the information in the screening program. The program lets the volunteers see which of many benefits programs the clients qualify for, and, because it is part of a suburban outreach program funded by the state, those benefits provided directly by the human services department can be approved on the spot. Other benefits, such as utility help, must be applied for separately, but volunteers can give the clients a good idea of whether they will be approved and tell them where and how to apply. At the same time, volunteers offer information about a variety of assistance offered by area not-for-profits, Basila said. “A big part of this is helping clients connect with social service agencies, food pantries and subsidized clinics in the area,” he said. Basila said he has been telling people to apply for energy assistance since the summer because funding for the program is limited. Last year, funding ran out in February. Catholic Charities clients who receive assistance at 14 Chicago sites can use a similar program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The programs don’t cost much, Basila said. The total investment was a laptop computer and wireless card for each site. But they make a tremendous difference for clients whose situations make them eligible for help, but don’t know how to go about applying or have the time or transportation necessary to go to multiple offices. Over the course of the year, Basila said, he has helped about 100 clients apply for benefits.