APPLETON – A Fox Valley congregation is taking on a new campaign to reduce the weight of medical debt in Wisconsin, and it wants the community’s help.
The Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship hopes to help eliminate $1 million in debt at the end of January.
In its month-long campaign in partnership with RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit, the church hopes to donate money to help Wisconsinites in debt.
Every dollar in the campaign will eliminate $100 in debt, according to RIP Medical Debt.
Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2600 E. Philip Lane, hopes the partnership will make a dent in the state. Medical debt is something that runs deep in the lives of several of the congregation’s ministers and families so starting the campaign was a meaningful step to supporting the greater community, said senior minister Rev. Christina Leone-Tracy.
About 10% of Wisconsinites have medical debt, according to a report from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The average resident has up to $2,450 in outstanding medical bills, the report said.
“Medical debt is a crushing weight for so many people in our nation, given the for-profit insurance systems which force people to make impossible choices between food, medicine, life-saving procedures, housing, and other essentials,” the campaign page said. “If we can help relieve that debt for some people and help them feel loved in the process, then we are living our values.”
A portion of the funds will come from the church’s Ministers’ Discretionary Fund, which was set up to help out with church members’ emergency bills or expenses they can’t afford.
Typically the fund carries a balance of around $200 to $1,000 with donations from the congregation, Leone-Tracy said.
But the pandemic spurred even more generosity. Donations to the fund started adding up and exceeded how much need there was for the fund’s use in the church.
“When the pandemic happened, people were giving us their stimulus checks saying, ‘I don’t need this’ or people were feeling generous,” Leone-Tracy said.
The ministers were giving away a lot of the money, but donations still kept the fund at well over $10,000 to sometimes $20,000.
The fund was meant to provide support but most of the money would just sit in the bank, Leone-Tracy said. So, the church decided to figure out where that money would make the most impact.
Leone-Tracy did some research and learned about RIP Medical Debt, which buys eligible patients’ medical debts and pays off their bills to erase outstanding debt. So far, the nonprofit has eliminated around $8.52 billion for over 5.5 million families, according to RIP Medical Debt.
Money from FVUUF’s campaign would first eliminate debt from Wisconsin families, before going to surrounding states in the Midwest.
People cannot apply to RIP Medical Debt to become a recipient. Residents will be eligible if they earn less than four times the poverty level — or roughly $111,000 for a family of four, and $54,360 for a family of one — and have medical debt around 5% or more of their annual income.
The campaign runs until Jan. 31. The amount donated will be revealed after the campaign ends.
The church keeps its fund balance at around $10,000 to cover the needs of the congregation. Anything raised above that will go to RIP Medical Debt. Leone-Tracy hopes to raise enough money to eliminate $1 million worth of debt, but thinks they can raise even more.
Those who qualify may find a surprise check in their mailbox in the upcoming months.
“It will just be a surprise relief for them,” Leone-Tracy said.
Online: Visit www.ripmedicaldebt.org/campaign/abundant-love-uu-campaign-to-eliminate-medical-debt/ and click Donate.
Text: Text the amount you want to give, space, MDF ($50 MDF) to 833-278-1690 and follow the prompts.
By check: Make checks payable to Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Write Ministers’ Discretionary Fund in the memo. Mail checks to: Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 2600 E. Philip Lane, Appleton, WI 54915.
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