With so many people seeking public assistance for the first time, it should have come as no surprise when a handful of folks wandered into an area Social Security Office by mistake April 3 looking for help.

I was sitting in the waiting room marking the time until a relative (who wasn’t there by mistake) completed his application for benefits. In the two hours plus that took, at least four desperate souls approached the counter in dire need of help only to find they were in the wrong place.

Worse yet, no one they asked had a clue where they should go.

All were seeking programs located somewhere else and it wasn’t hard to sense desperation creeping into the voices. One elderly woman – obviously ill – was looking for the PAAD program where, she’d been told over the phone, she could pick up a packet with an application for the Pharmaceutical Assistance to the Aged and Disabled program. Her ears were so stopped up, she said, that she couldn’t hear. She mentioned having a high fever and said she was in real need of the antibiotics prescribed by her doctor. But, without PAAD, she couldn’t afford them.

Truth to tell, the worker behind the counter asked her to wait while she tried to find out where she should go. The woman gave it a few minutes, then walked back up to the counter.

"I’m too sick," she mumbled. "I’ve got to go home."

Two other folks were seeking an assistance program which, according to other people in the waiting room, could be found either further on down the road in Toms River, the county seat, or over in Lakewood at a satellite office.

But, no one had the address. The fourth person had lost a $150,000 a year job and was at the end of her rope trying to keep a roof over her head. She was looking for help but it was not to be had at Social Security. She wanted to know if anyone had any idea where she could get some help. No one did.

Over the next few days, I thought about those people a lot. They probably are just small stones in an ever widening ripple.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was some central resource that could help them find the agency they needed to contact complete with address and telephone number.

After ruminating about it, I cut to the chase, calling the reference desk at the main branch of the Ocean County Library in Toms River. This reference desk had been a key source of information on any subject a young reporter could think of in the dark days before the Internet. In moments, reference librarian Carol Zsiga located a website called nj211.org which can provide information on resources from A to Z throughout the state with the click of a mouse.

Hundreds of 2-1-1 categories on everything from 24-hour hotlines to social services to transportation and beyond are easy to access.

2-1-1, it turns out, is a compendium of accurate information that can mean the difference between finding the help you need or feeling lost and powerless. It’s a state funded system constructed to put necessary knowledge at the fingertips of every resident.

By all means, if you have a question, need an address or a phone number or help in finding out where to access information, go to www.nj211.org. To speak to someone 24-hours a day, call 2-1-1 or 1-800-877-652-1146 or 1-800-652-1148. Not all telephone companies handle 2-1-1 so do not hesitate to call the 800 numbers for fast, courteous service.