Been there, done that regarding local missions, at small and big churches.
As others have noted, scam artists appear quite often. Some of my friends caught TB from street missions. We offered to help with several pregnancies, and a local doctor offered rooms in a private clinic, not the county hospital.
Very few took us up on our help. Our strings - no drug use, no alcohol and take vitamins every day. Meals provided if they would show up.
We also tried family intervention ministries - with cops who attended our church. Turned out that one of our detectives recognized several of the people we were trying to help as gang bangers, professional thieves and serious druggies.
Heather, before you criticize the church, talk to them. Perhaps no one thought to talk to the “lady” as you did, or maybe they did not see her - it took you several single minded attempts to discover her story.