Give
Me Shelter
When fire destroyed most of her Pleasantville home, Danielle
Bing didn’t know where to turn. “I had no where
to go,” recounts Danielle, a coin cashier at Sands
Casino and a single mother of two young boys. “We
had no home, no food and no clothes.”
So, Danielle turned to the United
Way-funded Emergency Services at the American Red Cross,
Atlantic & Cumberland County Chapter in Pleasantville.
The Chapter’s Disaster Services Coordinator DonnaLynn
Warren immediately provided Danielle with vouchers for food,
clothing and a motel room. She even took her grocery shopping.
Today, Danielle and her sons are happily back in their home
and grateful that services were available when she needed
them. “It was like having another family by my side.”
Someone
to Watch Over Me
When Tosca’s husband became ill in 1999, she needed
a support system to help her through that difficult time.
Thanks to the United Way-funded Helpline Reassurance program
at CONTACT Cape-Atlantic, Tosca received support to help
her through her husband’s illness and later her own.
Everyday, Tosca receives a cheerful
call from a CONTACT volunteer. Tosca is grateful for the
calls that allow her to stay independent; and her son, who
lives out of state, is grateful for the program that watches
over his mother.
Smart
Starts
Eugenia Lewis and Trina Jenkins credit the United Way-funded
Learning Center program at Mizpah Inland Human Services
for enriching their children’s educational opportunities.
The Learning Center tutors school
age children and helps them plan for college. Through their
involvement, Devin Lewis,13, and Jasmine Jenkins, 13, and
her brother Jamil,11, won scholarships to a youth art program
at Atlantic Cape Community College. A recent trip to Princeton
University also unveiled 8 year-old DiShayna Lewis’
gift for dance and cheerleading.
“Thanks to the Learning Center our children are already
planning for college,” said Eugenia . “It’s
given us a new lease on the future,” added Trina.
She’s
Now Living a Dream
Cheree grew up with no mother, an absence she felt every
day of her life. No one was around to teach Cheree the ways
of life and the world; in fact, many people had only caused
her pain. By the time she found Covenant House, Cheree was
unemployed and homeless, and she was taking care of two
young children on her own. She felt embarrassed by the fact
that she had no food or diapers for her baby. She lived
in constant fear of losing her children.
“The night I arrived at Covenant
House I was mentally, physically and emotionally destroyed,”
Cheree said.
Cheree found what she so desperately
needed at Covenant House. She found a case manager to teach
her the ways of motherhood and womanhood…things her
mother would have taught her. Cheree remembers, “It
was like she saw right through the girl I portrayed myself
to be in order to protect myself from the pain….”
She also found that the Covenant
House staff believed in her, even though she did not believe
in herself. “Covenant House provided me with something
that I needed the most—love,” she said. “With
love, came a home, education and a sense of self worth.”
Cheree never thought she would be
a college student; she told her case manager, “College
is for dreamers. I don’t need a dream, I need a job!”
Now, she is a full-time college student, with a full-time
job—while raising her two children.
“Covenant House has paved the
way to a promising future for me and my children,”
Cheree said. “If it was not for them, I do not know
where I would be.”
The Little Things in Life
Marly* is a mother of three who needed help finding a steady
job that paid enough to provide decent shelter for her family.
The Spanish Community Center assisted
Marly with an employment referral to a good job, which Marly
has maintained. She has since saved enough money to purchase
her own home and provide protection for her three young
children. She has also obtained her driver’s license,
giving her the freedom to experience a lot more in the community.
Her children are living comfortably
in the community, and Marly is grateful for the help from
the Spanish Community Center. Her children participate in
the Spanish Community Center’s summer enrichment program;
and they can now look forward to a better future.
Having a job and a driver’s license may not seem like
much, but to Marly and her children, it means the world.
A Place for Max
Max is ten years old; he has loving parents, Scott and Jackie,
and a big sister, Kelsey. But Max is not a typical 10-year-old.
With developmental disabilities falling in the Autism spectrum,
Max functions intellectually and developmentally at the
equivalent of a child half his age. In addition, Max has
Attention Deficit Disorder and is easily distracted.
Max likes repetitive things and
enjoys watching NASCAR racing for hours, but he has difficulty
transitioning and is uncomfortable in social settings. It
has been heartbreaking for his parents to watch their son
continually struggle to live a normal live.
This past summer Max attended The
Arc of Atlantic County’s summer camp, which places
children with developmental disabilities in a camp along
with typical children.
During his eight weeks at camp, Max
developed socially at the same rate as the other children!
He experiences many new activities at camp, such as swimming,
surfing, golf, tennis, basketball, volleyball, soccer, crafts
and computers. He looked forward to camp each day and insisted
on wearing his camp T-shirt all the time.
“We saw an incredible, unbelievable
difference since he went to camp,” said Max’s
mother. “He was able to overcome one of his greatest
obstacles—making friends!”
The Arc provided Max with a social
future. Max is now more comfortable in social settings and
more willing to try new things. He wants to be around friends
more often, and he’s more agreeable to be away from
his family.
Months after camp, Max was asked
at school where he would go if he could anywhere in the
world. Max, with his limited reading and writing ability,
was able to write “camp” as his answer, all
by himself!
Summer camp is expensive, but it is well worth the cost.
The friendship and new experiences it provides change the
lives of the children The Arc sends. United Way grants help
cover many of the camp costs, including an aide and transportation.
A
Powerful Voice in a Child’s Life
Two days after Christmas, 9-1-1 received a call that there
was a break-in at the OffShore Apartments in Atlantic City.
Upon arriving on the scene, police found a woman, under
the influence of drugs and alcohol, hallucinating that men
were trying to break into her apartment by climbing through
the drainpipes. The police took the woman away and she was
placed in a hospital. Her 7-year-old daughter, Amanda, was
placed into a foster home by the state Division of Youth
and Family Services (DYFS).
The Family Court Judge overseeing
Amanda’s case assigned a Court Appointed Special Advocate
to look out for Amanda’s best interests. Susan, a
retired AT&T employee and CASA Volunteer, was appointed
to the case on March 1. Before meeting with the troubled
child, Susan learned that Amanda was failing the second
grade, displayed behavior problems, and refused to be a
part of any group activities.
Armed with a briefcase full of coloring
books, library books and a deck of Old Maid cards, Susan
visited Amanda for the first time. Susan describes Amanda
as “a tall, very thin, malnourished, fidgety, 7-year-old
with sad eyes and a weak smile.”
In that first visit, Susan spent
two hours getting to know Amanda and understanding her needs
and desires. Amanda was desperate to return home, except
she wanted things to change. She told Susan that she wanted
to go home to a mom who gave her a bedtime, a mom who gave
her a bath, a mom who gave her dinner every night, and a
mom who stopped drinking alcohol.
Susan spent the next seven months
helping Amanda adjust to her new life in foster care and
supporting Amanda’s mother become sober and capable
of raising her daughter. Susan met with Amanda weekly and
appeared in court every time Amanda’s case was heard
to tell the judge how Amanda was progressing and to voice
the child’s desires and needs.
In September, nine months after her
removal, a happy and healthy Amanda returned home to a sober
mother who passed her parenting classes. Amanda has made
significant improvements in school and recently joined the
Girl Scouts.
As for Susan, she says, “Being
the eyes, ears and voice for one little girl in a difficult
time in her young life was unbelievably fulfilling.”
A Toy
of Joy
Scott, two and a half years old, was born with Cerebral
Palsy. According to his mother, Barbara, “He did not
smile or laugh until he was 18 months old. He cannot sit
unsupported and cannot open his hand.”
The Toy Library, at the Shirley Eves
Developmental & Therapeutic Center, provides toys specially
adapted for children with disabilities. The toys feature
large on/off switches and mechanisms that do not require
fine motor skills, making them easier to operate for children
like Scott. Barbara loves the fact that a therapist at the
Toy Library demonstrated the use of toys and taught her
how she can be a part of the fun.
Barbara advocates, “The Toy
Library has been a great resource for my son and I am sure
for all the children they serve.”
Grateful Girl Scout
Growing up, Jackie had always dreamed of being a Girl Scout,
but her family couldn’t afford it. She wanted her
daughter, Elizabeth*, to get the opportunity to experience
Girl Scouts.
Today, Jackie is proud to say that
her daughter, Elizabeth*, is a third year Junior in the
Girl Scouts. Elizabeth would have been in the same situation
as her mother, looking from the outside in, except that
a Girl Scout scholarship paid for her Girl Scout uniform
and her trips.
According to Jackie, “Girl
Scouts has made my daughter more outgoing and willing to
participate.”
Jackie is extremely grateful for
the financial aid that gave her daughter this great opportunity.
She hopes to one day help other girls who cannot afford
to participate in Girl Scouts.
