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‘More than a bag of groceries’ is a feature published quarterly in the Together We Cope newsletter. It profiles a typical person or family seeking assistance from the agency for the variety of needs associated with the temporary crisis of the family. Most of the time, our clients need more than a bag of groceries from the Together We Cope food pantry in order to resolve the crisis. In the featured stories, we illustrate how we met the challenge in that particular case.
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In November 2004, Doris Lewis and her husband had been laid off from their jobs and were collecting unemployment. The family eventually lost their home and had to put their belongings in storage. Doris was able to work preparing taxes at a local tax service while her husband performed odd jobs, but the family was now homeless, had no car, and had to provide shelter for their 13 year old son. Doris was not battered and her son was 13, therefore most transient housing was not available to the family. Most shelters were full and others required that her son stay in the men’s shelter away from her, and that was not an option.
Due to an illness, staying with Doris’s mother was not possible. Doris’s husband was able to obtain employment outside the state, but as long as Doris had a sick mother she would not leave. Although this opportunity would separate the family, it would enable their son to attend school and have a stable home life while living with relatives.
As is the case with many families in crisis, real help is not available. So as the family lived apart, Doris worked temp jobs and slept on friend’s floors. Eventually Doris saved enough money to secure an apartment for her family. That is when she came to Together We Cope. Here, Doris received groceries, and TWC was able to provide the family with their first month’s rent which freed up money so that the family could reunite and get their belongings out of storage.
Doris recently won a grant through the ARISE program for black entrepreneurial women. Out of the 268 applicants, Doris and her partner were chosen for the grant that has allowed them to start their own business, Taxx Vizion Inc. It is scheduled to open in January 2006, and will provide accounting, individual and business tax services. Her son is now a sophomore, and the family is back together and happy. Doris’s future goal is to open a family shelter as a tribute to those who helped her and her family when she was homeless. |
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