Fresh Starts and Faith

What would it take for you to feel like you were making a fresh start? We start over so many times in a lifetime – when we begin living independently as young adults; when we first share our hearts with someone; when we start parenting, caring for aging parents; when we take a deep breath and reinvent ourselves. Many of the people whose stories are on the Benevolent site this week are making fresh starts, too, important ones. One that stands out for me is Kena’s story.

“It's just me and God in this apartment.” - Kena

Kena seems like someone we’d all like to know – now. Not so long ago, Kena was living a life driven by her addiction. She tells us about years of making bad choices. Now, however, Kena is in recovery, living independently for the first time, and ready to build towards her future.

As many know, recovery from addiction is a very personal and often spiritual process. In fact, Kena tells us “It's just me and God in this apartment.” She’s sleeping on an air mattress in an unfurnished apartment and working towards employment and stability. She has a part-time job and is working hard to make ends meet.

This is Kena’s fresh start. She’s coming to life in ways she hasn’t been able to in years, and I am touched that she shared it with us and is trusting us to help.

The very first need we met on the Benevolent site was for a woman named Anne who was also sleeping on an air mattress. Laughingly she told us that every night she went to bed fearing that the bed would pop and she’d wake up on the hard floor. 

This fresh start for Kena is about so much more than a bed. It’s about her determination, optimism, hard work and belief in herself. What we can give her is way beyond furniture. When you reach out and enter Kena’s circle, she’ll know that she’s not walking this new path all on her own. Our recipients tell us all the time that just knowing that there are people out there who believe in them makes a world of difference. I’m glad we can be that world of difference for Kena this spring.

I can just picture it. When Kena gets her new furniture and bed, she’ll know that in addition to her and God in her apartment, a little bit of each of us will be there as well, reminding her that we believe in her and in her new start.

- megan kashner

  founder & ceo

  benevolent

  www.benevolent.net

Doing the Right Thing 15+ Years Ago is Working Against Denise Today

Denise did what she needed to and followed the rules. Now she’s lost her job and she and her children are living at a shelter.

Denise was a teenage mom. When her child was born, she continued her education, receiving some Temporary Aid for Need Families support while she went to high school. She made it through her junior year before she found herself having to make the tough decision to drop out of school. She had struggled to find safe, nurturing child care for her son while she was in school, but when her senior year came around, she was out of child care options and chose to put her son first and stay with him.

In the following years, Denise went to school to become certified as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). She was able to do this because CNA training is one of the select training paths one can take in Illinois and still qualify for TANF, subsidized child care, food stamps, and other services.

Once she had her CNA, Denise found a job working with seniors and people with disabilities. She worked full time, uninterrupted, for fifteen years as her family grew, her skills increased, and she matured into adulthood. Denise had never been homeless never had to seek out TANF any further, until this recession.

In March, the facility where Denise worked shut down. When she pursued a new job in her field, she found that the field had changed, shrunk, and that there were not jobs readily available. She’s been seeking work since March and only last month had to give up her apartment and move herself and her children to a shelter. She has gone back to school for her GED, hoping to go on to train as a medical assistant. Last school session, though, she had to drop out because she didn’t have the bus fare to get to her classes regularly.

When Denise sought help, TANF, food stamps, and other supports this year, she found that she was ineligible for most public supports because in her teens she had exhausted the 60-month lifetime limit for support. This meant that doing the right thing for her son when she was 17 years old precludes her from receiving much help now, in the depths of the recession. While I’m not sure whether the crafters of welfare reform in the 1990s meant for this to be the case, it is the reality for Denise.

Today, we post Denise’s simple request. She’s finding it almost impossible to persevere in her job search, get to class and the library, and manage her progress forward without being able to access even public transportation. Denise is asking for three months of a hand in the form of three monthly bus passes for the Chicago Transit Authority. It’s not a large request, only $280, but Denise has a plan and a path, and simply needs help getting to and from it.

As always, you can support Benevolent member needs at www.benevolent.net. We are pleased to report that Anne's need, posted less than two weeks ago, has been met in full. We hope to continue to prove the Benevolent model with the fulfillment of this need in the weeks before the launch of Benevolent't real site.

- megan kashner

Founder & CEO