Stories

Volunteer Spotlight: Brenda Mason

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Brenda Mason, Volunteer and Retired Diva
It was little more than a year ago that Brenda Mason and her fellow members of the Lady Orchid Assembly #44, a community service organization, arrived for a morning of volunteer service in the Crisis Ministry’s pantry on East Hanover Street. She and her fellow Lady Orchid volunteers liked what they saw, and Brenda soon began volunteering with the Crisis Ministry once a week. Still, she want...
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Cora Evans

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Cora Evans
  Cora was a standout when enrolled in our Harvesting Hope training and employment search program. Cora refreshed her skills and focused her job search, all the while providing excellent service within the Crisis Ministry’s food pantry program as an on-the-job trainee. Cora completed the Harvesting Hope program with proven skills, new experience, a more effective resume, and poli...
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“C”

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The story of C., a mother of two children with disabilities, illustrates how the program’s relatively low individual direct costs can lead to life-changing results. When C. came to the Crisis Ministry for assistance in March 2012 she was not working, and her family’s sole income came from the disability payments (Social Security Disability Income) both children receive. She wanted to get back to w...
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Vanessa, Crisis Ministry staff member

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The Crisis Ministry receives hundreds of calls each month from people facing shut-off of utilities due to non-payment. We assist as many qualifying callers as we can with direct payments of up to $400 to the utilities. In some cases, however, the cause of the issue calls for a different kind of help. “I always try to find other ways to help when there’s some type of red flag,” says Crisis Mi...
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Christina

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Christina
A manager for 10 years at a telecommunications company, Christina was laid off from her job and is glad that the Crisis Ministry is here for her during a difficult time. Thanks to back rent assistance from our Homelessness Prevention team she and her children remain in their apartment. Through the Crisis Ministry’s Client Choice pantry, she has access to healthy food for her family. Thoug...
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Calvin Brown

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So often, the things we take for granted are also most important to our success and well-being. A quick run to the market, a drive to a doctor’s appointment, a trip to a job interview; how difficult these simple tasks become if we can’t drive. Graduates of the Crisis Ministry’s License to Succeed program will attest to this, having seen how the acquisition of a driver’s license can make a tough s...
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Michael

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Michael Brown
“Homelessness affected several areas of my life,” says Michael. “I wasn’t providing for my five-year-old daughter. I wasn’t in contact with my family, and they worried about me as I moved from house to house with friends or to a shelter. Homelessness has been intrinsic to my life since the beginning,” he adds, starting with abandonment as a baby by his mother and being raised in her mother’s crowd...
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