Who Journey's Helps - AMAZING Sucess Stories

SUCCESS STORY
Mary and her four children showed up at a JOURNEYS shelter on a frigid January night with nowhere to go. Her husband had left her family without saying a word the summer before. She immediately found part-time work in food service, but could not make enough money to cover rent. She was finally evicted right around Christmas. Her brother in Niles let her stay with him for a few weeks, but told her to leave when his landlord threatened to evict him because of Mary’s kids.
When she came to JOURNEYS, she was humiliated and fearful. She was hesitant to open up to staff. Our first job was to show we were worth being trusted. Within the first week, our caseworkers helped enroll and advocate for Mary’s kids in local schools. When Mary saw this, she started to warm up. She admitted she was lonely and overwhelmed. She had spent her adult life as a stay at home mom and was unprepared to be both mother and primary wage earner.
Within the month, JOURNEYS helped her apply for and be accepted for food stamps and subsidized family medical care. Staff then gave her a job lead for full-time work. She aced the interview, in large part to her warm personality and can-do work ethic. With a steady income, she applied to Pathways Development Institute (PDI). A great candidate, within four months of starting work with JOURNEYS, she was accepted into the PDI program and was housed in Palatine.
Her family was ecstatic. The kids now had some stability in their life for the first time in a year, and they no longer had to hide their homelessness from peers. For Mary’s part, she told staff they had helped her to discover her own strengths and resiliencies. She was soon promoted at work into the management track. Today, she has been stably housed for almost six months now and is looking forward to moving back to her hometown of Rolling Meadows soon.


NEAR HOMELESSNESS
Jack and Vanessa, and their three daughters, have been coming to JOURNEYS for about three years now. During the first year, we helped get them out of the shelters and into transitional housing. Currently, we provide the services that other agencies are unable or unwilling to extend.
Jack works full-time as a tradesman, but consistent work has been spotty since housing construction slowed down. Vanessa juggles stay at home mom duties, studying for her GED, and working part-time in retail. JOURNEYS has been focused on job development for both spouses, education coordination for the whole family, and providing parenting education and family case management.
With JOURNEYS supportive services such as food pantry and Christmas gifts for the girls, and working with the girls’ school social workers, the family was not only able to keep their housing and family stable during 2011-2012, but actually move out of the transitional housing program and pay for rent independently. This was a huge step for the family, and one that has been given long-term support by JOURNEYS for the last few years.


HOMELESSNESS
Jeff is a 40 year-old man who works full-time as a tow truck driver. Because he earns money based on vehicles towed, his income can vary wildly. He also has numerous health problems, including diabetes and high anxiety. Despite having an outwardly mellow personality and loving to tell jokes, he says that his health issues “run in the family”.
In 2011-2012, JOURNEYS provided shelter for Jeff during the cold months, although sometimes he preferred to sleep in the tow truck or the unheated garage of his tow truck company. JOURNEYS also connected Jeff with a nurse practitioner that visits JOURNEYS once a week to get him on a stable regimen of prescription medication, without which working would be extremely difficult.
Jeff has been saving money over the spring and summer so that when the shelter sites open up again in fall 2012, he no longer needs to use them because he is renting his own room or apartment. JOURNEYS has also been helping to coordinate Jeff’s appointments and treatment plans with doctors and other agencies such as the Department Human Services. Hopefully, with JOURNEYS assistance Jeff will need less and less of us this upcoming year.