Maurice Gordon Chase was born in the small town of Dinuba California on March 17th 1919. He would later study at St. Paul’s College in Washington and be ordained by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen in 1953. It would not be for decades that this soft spoken Catholic Priest gained the name most of us  here in Los Angeles knew him by “Father Dollar Bill.”
In his early days Father Chase worked at ministries all over Southern California. Then he was assigned as a fund-raising assistant to the president of Loyola Marymount University, Father Donald P. Merrifield. During his tenure as a fundraiser Father Merrifield suggested to the priest that he “also work with the poor for his own spiritual health.”
So starting in the early 1980s, Father Chase would travel to Los Angeles “Skid Row” and began to give out a large quantity of 
mostly dollar bills totaling about $3,000 each week.  Most were $1 but during the holidays Father Chase would also give out $5 and $100 dollar bills. People would line up for blocks waiting for his arrival.
In an interview Father Chase said, “I’m happy to be here. I come down here because Jesus prompts me to take care of the poor and the homeless. I just love it. But the money is not the point. I’m trying to give them hope; to give them a sense of dignity.”“
For more than thirty years “Father Dollar Bill” gave the inhabitants of “Skid Row” hope but he also let them know someone actually cared about them.
On November 20th, 2011 at the age of 92, Father Maurice Gordon Chase died of cancer at his home in Southern California. His half century of looking out for those in need had come to an end.
“He was just a glorious man,” said Beverly Taylor, 59, who lived on Skid Row for two decades. “He was just always there.”
“He’s got a heart,” said the 56-year-old woman who sleeps on the sidewalk when she can’t find a shelter bed. “I never saw anyone like him. Some people are generous, but this guy … I can’t even describe it.”
According to “ABC News” “In honor of the Rev. Maurice Chase, known as “Father Dollar Bill,” Fred Jordan Mission handed out dollar bills to the first 500 guests at Thursday’s thanksgiving feast, continuing Chase’s decades-long tradition”.
In a statement made by Willie Jordan of the Mission, she said….
“This has been a tough year here on Skid Row. Our donations have dropped dramatically, maybe as much as 40 percent, and yet at the same time, we’re seeing so many more people. We have got a lot of things at the mission, but food is still No. 1.”
James Rory, 60, said his interactions with Father Chase helped him decide to try to get off the street.
“A lot of people down here don’t want any more than what the mission has to offer,” he said. “I had something before and I’d like to get it back. He’s definitely going to be missed,” he added. “Not because of the dollar. Because of what he offered me spiritually.”
During this holiday season we all need to take a moment from our frenzied holiday schedules and be grateful for what we have because in an instant it can all be gone.   This Christmas, at least in Los Angeles, “Skid Row” will be a darker, colder and more depressing place for those unfortunates who live there. One of the truly bright lights in the darkness has been extinguished forever.
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