CAP Services-Small Loans, Big Difference

In early 2024, Caleb took out an Auto Title Loan. Caleb needed money quickly to fly down to see his mother who had a medical emergency. The loan’s high interest rates were putting a strain on his budget. He was referred to by a friend to apply with CAP Service to refinance the loan at a lower rate. He was working two jobs before Covid and during that time he was laid off. He was able to return to work in July, with his current medical condition and being at high risk he stayed home a few extra months. His monthly loan payment was lowered from $300 to $65 per month.

Caleb has been working hard to pay his bills and maintain good credit. He has a flexible spending credit card to help build credit and has always made his payments. His loan with CAP has had payments made on time for 6 months.

CAP Services-Skills Enhancement Program

Carrie has been enrolled in the Skills Enhancement Program since 2012. She has had many trials and tribulations throughout the last 12 years. She took a few breaks from school during that time due to personal reasons. During this time, she went through a household of 2 as a single female head of household to a household of 6 with a husband and their blended family of 4 children. 

Carrie earned an Associate Degree in Nursing. She received a job at a hospital as a registered nurse working 32 hours per week, earning $43.97 per hour. This is a wage increase of $34.97 per hour and an overall annual increase of $61,934.04. 

“The skills enhancement program offered me an opportunity to continue my education while having a family.
Balancing work, school, finances, and childcare is difficult but with the support available I was able to earn my nursing degree.
I can’t thank the skills manager, Jamie, enough for all her hard work, dedication and great communication to help me achieve my goals and become the nurse I am today”

Childcare-Good Start Grant

The cost of childcare is so high, even when rates are "good" or "average," that it would have been impossible for both of us to work without this grant. Without this grant, we would have had to make some very difficult choices regarding our housing, paying other bills, and whether we could maintain our employment. I would not have had summer care, and I don't have any other resources I could rely on. It is almost impossible to find daycare with openings, and even harder to find anything affordable.

This center is where all three of my children attended preschool and they have become an extension of our family, as our family lives far away. Knowing I could trust my child's caregivers makes all the difference in the world. They have helped connect me with resources for my children, from winter jackets to referrals for speech services, and have provided valuable input for my children's doctors regarding their development and needs. The center regularly has family friendly events where we enjoy the activities, education, and connection with teachers and other families.

My children and family have made lifelong friends through these connections, helping give us a sense of community. My husband's income barely covered our daycare bill, but it was also not an option for him to stay home; this put us in an unending stressful situation. This grant came just in time and really helped us stabilize. We still struggle and are still behind, but this grant pulled us through and let us continue to work when we needed it most.

Boys and Girls Club- Great Futures

Before joining the Great Futures! program, one Club member, Rosie, struggled to manage her emotions and engage in positive behaviors. When frustrated, Rosie would often become escalated, yell, and run into the hallway, refusing to listen to staff. Through the Great Futures! program, our staff worked with her to develop coping strategies to manage her emotions and calm herself when experiencing 'big feelings.' Additionally, our Club site now features a reset spot, a dedicated area where all Club members can take a break to regulate their emotions when needed. 

Over the past ten months, staff have observed significant improvements in Rosie. Recently, she demonstrated her progress by using the coping skills she learned and the reset spot. Now, instead of running into the hallway and yelling, she asks staff if she can take a break in the reset spot, where she practices deep breathing and uses the fidgets and sensory tools from her SEL toolbox.

Salvation Army- Hope Center

Lisa is 56-year-old woman who has experienced some difficult times in her life. She had lost her job, had her house foreclosed on, and found herself living by the river with nowhere to go and no one to help her all while experiencing a health condition that causes great pain in her feet. She used alcohol to cope and was starting to lose hope that her situation would get better. After living like that for a while, she found herself walking through the doors of the Salvation Army Hope Center determined to give herself a better life. 

In her time at the shelter, she got sober, got a new retail job, went through the Rent Ready Program, and was given a voucher to look for housing. She searched relentlessly for housing but experienced a lot of rejection in the process due to her foreclosure. However, Lisa did not give up. She continued to look for housing with the support of her case manager and finally found a landlord that would work with her. 

Lisa has been living in her apartment by herself a few months now. While she still has room to grow, she has demonstrated immense progress and continues to do so every day. Lisa has saved up an emergency fund and pays her rent on time every month. She is motivated each time she works with her case manager stated that she “refuses to go back to how things were before.” Despite struggling with barriers such as the pain in her feet, Lisa perseveres and continues to work for the life she knows she deserves.

Boys and Girls Club- Teen Programming

I met Casey in September 2023 when she was added to my caseload shortly after the school year began. She was part of our mentoring program, and I saw her weekly throughout the school year. Initially, Casey was impulsive and carried a lot of anger toward her childhood and situations beyond her control. From September to May, Casey made remarkable progress. At first, she refused to do schoolwork or even open her Chromebook. She had extreme mood swings, with very high "highs" and very low "lows." We built our relationship through games of Uno and conversations about life, providing her with a safe space to express her feelings. 

Over time, she opened up, and I realized her dislike for school was deeply rooted in past trauma. For instance, in science class, she was uncomfortable with her teacher's proximity, affecting her ability to learn. After discussing this with her teacher, Casey was allowed to work independently, which led to her grade improving from an F to a B. A recurring theme in her classes was her lack of confidence, despite understanding the material. She could complete assignments with me by her side but struggled to do so alone. To address this, I sat with her during tests, and since then, she has consistently earned C's or above. Sometimes, all she needed was someone to sit beside her for reassurance. 

As of May, I meet with Casey twice a week to support her academics and life in general. She now arrives with a smile, eagerly starts her work, and we still enjoy a round of Uno at the end of each session. At 13, she is mature beyond her years and has taught me so much this school year. I am incredibly proud of how far she has come. Sometimes, our students need more than academic coaching—they need someone to be there for them.

Aging and Disability Resource Center-Adult Day Center

When Ben began attending the Adult Day Center, he was a very reserved and introverted 58-year-old with autism. His sister, Linda was his caregiver and guardian. Linda worried about him since he began showing increased signs of depression. Linda was experiencing a lot of stress about the situation because she lived in Kentucky while Ben lived alone in Stevens Point, although fairly independently. His social activities only included going to the YMCA a few days a week. Linda knew that Ben enjoyed being around other people (observing from a distance) even though he lacked verbal skills to contribute to conversations. 

She wondered if finding an additional opportunity would help alleviate some of his depression (and her anxiousness about the situation). Linda found respite information online and reached out to the ADC immediately. The ADC supervisor emailed a couple of ADC videos to Linda and assisted her with enrollment paperwork. Ben hesitantly and cautiously began attending the ADC two days per week. The city bus would drop him off at Lincoln Center after his morning workout at 'the Y,' just in time to observe, from a distance, the morning activity. 

Within a few months, Linda shared that she was seeing improvement in Ben's demeanor, so she increased his attendance, adding an additional day each week. Linda also informed the supervisor that Ben's verbal skills were improving, and she had been able to speak with him over the phone now that he began forming short sentences by putting three or four words together. Today, Ben is thriving and looks forward to the days he attends. He continues to watch group activities from a distance; however, he joins the rest of the group during lunchtime.

Boys and Girls Club- Rural Programming

Last spring, the Site Coordinator at one of our rural Club sites discovered that a Club member, Sam, was at risk of failing a class due to falling behind on homework after an extended illness. Although the teacher assigned extra work to help her catch up, the Club member became overwhelmed by the workload. Frustrated that her classmates didn't have the same additional assignments, she began avoiding the work altogether. 

The teacher reached out to the Site Coordinator, asking if BGC could provide support during Club hours. Thanks to the strong relationship the Site Coordinator had with Sam, they were able to encourage her to tackle the additional assignments, despite her initial resistance. They made a pact to work on homework together every day after school. With this support, Sam managed to catch up on all her work before the school year ended.