When the 51-year-old former bank-collections trainer lost her job last year, fell severely ill and had three lengthy hospital stays, she refused to apply for government aid other than an unemployment check. Her condominium in Columbus teetered on the edge of foreclosure as bill payments drained her retirement savings and the prices of fuel and food climbed.

Then this month, she swallowed her pride and sought help through a program at a local church, bracing herself for more frustration and paperwork.

Instead, she found a network of nonprofit groups aimed at helping low-income residents claim billions of dollars in government aid without the red tape.

It's called the Ohio Benefit Bank, a public-private partnership that provides clients with free, centralized assistance to apply for food stamps, tax refunds, child care and other programs using volunteer counselors and special filing software.

Since 2006, Benefit Bank programs in Ohio and five other states have helped 56,000 people claim more than $57 million in benefits and tax credits or refunds, according to Solutions for Progress, the Philadelphia-based technology company that develops and customizes the software for each state.

"We realized that we had built something that could really help people trying to get out of poverty, or avoid getting into poverty," Chief Executive Robert Brand said of the software, which was first used for a union health-care program.

Ohio has the most active Benefit Bank: It has served more than 32,000 people. It has become a model for anti-poverty activists considering similar systems in Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan and North Carolina.

"Given the economic conditions that are facing the nation and the state, I think the Benefit Bank is perhaps more important now than at any time in the past because we do have more people in need," Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said.

Ohio organizers see it as an especially useful tool for helping the "new poor" -- people trying to navigate unfamiliar government programs and complicated application processes for the first time.

Perhaps most important for Brothers, the program defied her sense of shame and defeat.

"I shouldn't be embarrassed, because I pay my taxes, too," she said. "I just, you know, I've had a rotten 15 months."

Besides a social stigma, other factors that keep eligible people from seeking aid include repetitive paperwork, the disconnect among government offices, and a low level of awareness about eligibility, said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks.

The association leveraged its network of nonprofit affiliates to help create more than 700 Benefit Bank access sites across the state and spread the news by word of mouth.

More than $1.6 billion in tax credits and public benefits go unclaimed each year in Ohio alone, Hamler-Fugitt said.

After spending a few hours with counselors typing data into a computer, Brothers has claimed her piece, about $285 a month in food stamps and work support.

"That sounds like nothing," she said. "But here's the thing: I wasn't getting it before."

Columbus resident Marla Flewellen shares that attitude. The 42-year-old seminary student turned to the Benefit Bank when she began caring for her three great-nephews. Now she gets more than $900 in monthly food stamps and financial support.

"Talk about a big help," said Flewellen, who calls the bank "a one-stop shop for resources."

Smaller networks of Benefit Bank sites in Pennsylvania, Florida, Kansas and Mississippi hope to replicate Ohio's success by developing the same kind of tight partnership among the nonprofit groups, the state government and financial sponsors.

The Ohio bank's first director, Ralph Gildehaus, is looking at creating one in North Carolina as part of a larger anti-poverty initiative there.

He said he envisions the banks as an innovative way to increase accessibility to aid and to modernize the eligibility system.

The Rev. Stephen Copley, who spearheaded the initiative in Arkansas, says the struggling economy gives the program an unfortunate opportunity to blossom in his state and throughout the U.S.

"I hope it can reach nationwide," he said. "It'd have a huge impact for folks who, right now, are low-income, toward giving them a much better quality of life."

About Benefit Banks

Facts and figures about Benefit Bank operations in Ohio and elsewhere:

Ohio

• Began in: 2006

• Clients served: 32,160

• Funding and government support claimed: $37.6 million

• Sites: 730

• Lead agencies: Governor's Office of Community and Faith-Based Initiatives, Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks

Other facts

• Current programs also used in parts of Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Florida, Kansas and Mississippi

• Software developer: Philadelphia-based Solutions for Progress

• Total clients served: more than 56,000

• Total government support claimed: $57.3 million

Sources: Solutions for Progress; Ohio Association of Second Harvest Foodbanks

"Given the economic conditions that are facing the nation and the state, I think the Benefit Bank is perhaps more important now than at any time in the past because we do have more people in need."