Felicia came to HOPE asking for assistance. She was in crisis because she lost her apartment due to hurricane Ian. She shared that her landlord sold the property she was residing in. As a result, she was residing in a hotel and eventually did not have any funds for the hotel and ended up living out of her car. In addition, she had no support system. To survive, she started to use the facility at a 24-hour gym to bathe or to get rest. At that moment, she knew she needed help.
Thankfully she knew about United Way’s 2-1-1 human services telephone directory and they had her call us. When Felicia came to HOPE she sat with one of our interns and case managers and asked for rental financial assistance (deposit assistance) because she identified an apartment she wanted to move into. After she shared her story we moved her along in the process of gathering banking statements and then asked her for the welcome letter from her apartment complex.
Next we scheduled her for financial counseling and worked on creating a budget. However, after attending a financial counseling session and a budget was created, we saw that she could not afford to move into the apartment by herself. The case manager problem solved with the team and asked Felicia if she could get a roommate. Felicia was able to find one and was glad to know that moving forward she would be able to afford an apartment plus her living expenses thanks to the roommate she found and because of her first month’s rent deposit provided by HOPE.
While some of her goals had been met such as getting approved from HOPE for an apartment deposit, getting a second job, and a roommate, Felicia felt there was still more she could accomplish.
After she moved into her new apartment and when her case plan was being reviewed as part of our follow up process she shared that she was taking one more class to accomplish yet another goal she set for herself which was to become a medical biller. She shared that if she had taken out the time to gain an Associate’s degree, she now wanted to take out the time to pursue a career in medical billing.
She is currently taking her last class in medical billing, and has prospects for future work. She also continues to come to the food pantry with her roommate to help keep her living expenses stable, as she gets closer to self-sufficiency.
Thanks to HOPE Felicia’s life took a 360 degree turn with some guidance, effort and determination. Recently she told us…
“The staff at HOPE communicate well. HOPE tries to help the most that they can and they do so with food, courses and by educating others on how to get out of financial debt. The classes at HOPE helped me become more financially stable. In addition, HOPE offers an array of services and connected me to health services and other services that helped me get better! Overall, I’m very appreciative because HOPE helped me become more financially stable.”
Felicia’s content, confident and looking forward to the future, all thanks to you!
