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Emergency Financial Assistance
 Every
Wednesday, House of Hope managers from the agency’s four
locations – Stuart, Hobe Sound, Indiantown and Jensen
Beach – gather to review the many requests for
assistance they have received throughout the week in the
Emergency Financial Assistance program.
Typically, EFA clients are
low-wage workers, low fixed-income seniors, single
parents, and people facing a sudden life crisis
(divorce, abandonment, abuse, death in the family, major
medical issue, etc.). In today’s economic climate, many clients are newly unemployed
middle-class wage earners who have exhausted their
personal resources and are now desperately in need of
help.
Each case is heartbreaking. Each represents a life in
crisis; children at risk. The needs all too often outweigh the funds available,
even with assistance from other agency and church
partners.
Donations and grants make House of Hope
assistance
possible.
Please help make
sure no one falls through the cracks.
| Cases of Hope from
our recent client files: |
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"Matthew," 42, is the single father of a
9-year-old girl. He works selling insurance, but
his base salary was reduced in January and his
commission was already low because of the
economy. He came to House of Hope for help with
his electric bill -- $96 was "past due" and put
him in danger of having his power cut off. House
of Hope paid the bill -- offering
emergency assistance -- and also is screening
Matthew for long-term assistance and guidance
under HOH's case management program. |
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"Melanie" is a 58-year-old Jensen Beach woman
who lost her job when the laws governing
qualifications for her position were changed.
She took a course in a new field and opened her
own business in July 2009, but was forced to
close in October 2009 after breaking her foot in
an accident. She is currently working for the
Census and looking for more employment. Jensen
Beach branch manager Kathy Foster calls her a
"real go-getter" and has confidence in her
future. In the mean time, "Melanie" has run
through her savings and needs assistance; House
of Hope will provide $200 toward her rent. |
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"Marie," 51, and her husband, "Elliott," 54, were
both employed in construction. Elliott became
sick in November of 2009 and could no longer
work. By February, Marie had to leave her job to
take care of Elliott full-time. Her husband
eventually entered hospice care and died around
the time that Marie came to House of Hope for
help. Marie said she had some job opportunities
lined up, but needed help with her rent to help
her get by until she started working again.
House of Hope paid the $500 in rent that she
requested. |
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"Allison" is a 27-year-old woman with two young
children. She has been employed as a prep cook
at a local bakery/deli for the past three years
and had been managing OK. However, she recently
missed some work because of illness and then her
daughter was hospitalized for a few days. With
the extra expenses of medication and the
temporary expiration of her food stamps, Allison
faced a crisis: How was she going to pay her
rent? She came to House of Hope for assistance,
and we were able to pay $400 toward her rent and
have also recommended Allison take part in our
case management program to work long-term toward
a more stable future. |
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"Rose," 49, and her 18-year-old daughter share a
home. Rose had been working for five months at a
local grocery store when she was diagnosed with
breast cancer. At the same time, her daughter
was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst, which has
been treated successfully. Rose's prognosis,
however, is not good. A charitable group has
helped Rose obtain treatment and she has
returned to work, but she has incurred many
out-of-pocket travel and medical expenses.
Rose's daughter works part-time at a restaurant,
but her hours keep getting reduced. House of
Hope was able to provide $500 toward their rent,
and will attempt to offer longer-term help to
the family through the case management program
-- perhaps helping the daughter to find better
employment. |
| "Meredith" is a Hobe Sound
resident with a 9-month-old baby whose father is
not providing child support. Meredith works as a
receptionist and is struggling to make ends
meet. She earns just a bit too much to be
eligible for Food Stamps and other benefits. Her
baby recently got sick and the expenses of
doctor visits and medication set her back. She
came to House of Hope for help with her rent,
and we will pay the $275 she requested. In
addition, House of Hope will propose that she
enter the case management program to help her
with child care expenses, budgeting, and other
matters. |
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"Cheryl" is a 55-year-old Hobe Sound woman who
is a writer and teacher. Her most recent
employer did not pay its workers for several
weeks. Cheryl will soon start a new job, but she
is behind on her bills. She came to House of
Hope for $250 toward her rent, which the agency
will pay. |
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"Bradley" and "Allison" have a 2-year-old child
and one on the way. Allison works part time, and
Bradley lost his job about three weeks ago. The
family came to House of Hope facing a three-day
notice for eviction, with back rent, late fees
and utilities mounting. House of Hope agreed to
pay at least $624 to help the family stay in
their home. |
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"Barbara" is a 32-year-old single mother of five
children under the age of 10. Her significant
other, who had been paying the bills for the
family, recently moved out. Her sister will be
moving in to help the family, but in the
meantime, Barbara is falling behind on bills.
She is looking for a part-time job while going
to school to become a medical assistant. Holy
Cross -- a faith-based agency partner in
Indiantown -- and House of Hope are partnering
to help with her rent. |
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"Hannah," 22, and her husband have
been unemployed and
trying to support their two children.
Fortunately, "Hannah" was just hired at a new
restaurant. However, the family is in danger of
falling behind on their rent. They came to House
of Hope as well as St. Vincent de Paul for help,
and we will be splitting the cost of the
family's $640 rent. |
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"Jennie" is a 23-year-old mother of two children
and employed as a prison guard. She and her
children had been living with her mother to help
her, but now they must move out. Jennie had put
money aside to move into an apartment, but
instead she had to buy a used car after her
automobile faced repairs that amounted to more
than the car was worth. House of Hope and other
agencies are helping her with her rent so she
and her family can get settled. |
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"Roger" is a 53-year-old man who has been
resourceful during his unemployment. To expand
his opportunities as a truck driver, Roger took
classes to obtain his Class A and Class B
commercial driver's licenses. Workforce Solutions
also has helped him with his resume and job
search. Meanwhile, he had been sharing an
apartment with his son, but his son moved out
and Roger could no longer afford the rent. He
became homeless -- living out of his car --
for about three weeks before finding another,
more affordable apartment. He could pay the
deposit, but he needed help with the first-month's
rent. House of Hope and St. Vincent de Paul paid $250 each to help him. |
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"Ruby" is a 36-year-old Indiantown resident who
is working and taking business management
classes despite suffering from a brain tumor.
She came to House of Hope for help with her FPL
bill of about $100. HOH will pay the bill, and
has recommended her for the agency's case
management program that can help counsel Ruby on
money management and career-related goals. |
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"Donna" is 84 years old and focused on caring
for her gravely ill husband, who is 87. She was
taking care of him at home for months, but in
the past few weeks, he has been back and forth
from the hospital and a nursing home. Donna had
been coping as best she could with bills, but
her FPL bill has mounted to the point where she
has received a final notice totaling $510. House
of Hope will help her with at least a portion of
that bill, and will also help guide Donna in
trying to reduce other costs -- especially her
premium for Medicare gap insurance. |
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Here's one of the most unusual cases in House of
Hope history: We helped an elderly couple --
he's 86, she's 81 -- get rid of a 40-pound hive
that bees had built behind their air
conditioning unit. They live in a mobile home
park and were being threatened with eviction if
they didn't get rid of it. HOH negotiated with
an exterminator and paid $285 to remove the
hive. |
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"Becky," the mother of two young boys, had been
trying to extract herself from an abusive
relationship. She moved in to a new
apartment, but she did not have any furniture or
many other household items. She came to House of
Hope and the Clothes Closet program was able to
help -- and showed that the program is about
more than just clothes. House of Hope gave her
two twin beds for the boys as well as one for
herself. There were also some sets of blue
sheets someone had donated that were perfect for
the boys' beds. The family was given a set of
dishes and plastic cups. The best item of all
was a chair for the boys' bedroom where their
mom could sit and read to them at night. |
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"Mickie" was 20 and temporarily living at a
domestic violence shelter with her 15-month-old
child. She has hopes for going to college and
becoming a nurse, but her first step along the
path is getting her GED. She needed help paying
the fee to take the test, and House of Hope
agreed to pay the $70 fee. |
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"Alan" is a disabled
veteran, discharged from the Marines in 2004
after two surgeries on his knees. He is
attending school on the GI Bill, studying
aviation mechanics, a vocation he did during his
time in the military. He is the father of a
15-year-old, and he lives with his fiancee, who
also has a teenager. His fiancee works at a
resort as a massage therapist, but has had no
work during June. "Alan" was also the victim of
bank fraud, losing $600. He will be finishing
school and looking for work soon, and House of
Hope was able to help with $280 toward their
rent to help them in the meantime. |
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Read
thank you
notes from clients
and donors
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