Schawniekaw first came to Crisis Assistance Ministry when her landlord filed for eviction. She and her three children packed all their essentials into their truck. They honestly weren’t sure if they would be able to return to their apartment by the end of the day.
Schawniekaw has sometimes worked two or three jobs trying to keep up. Right now, she’s down to one main job plus occasional on-demand delivery. Her oldest daughter has Down Syndrome. She has to keep some time free for school meetings, doctor’s appointments, and all the other things special needs parents must do.
She works retail. So her hours (and paycheck) aren’t consistent. Even in a good month, it’s hard to stretch her dollars to cover the basics. If she has to miss work or if her employer schedules her for fewer hours, things fall further behind. Working hard just isn’t quite enough to keep her head above water financially.
She gets teary talking about the relief she felt when she finally asked for help. Because of donors like you, help was available to keep them in their apartment with their utilities on. All her troubles weren’t gone, she says, but at least she knew they wouldn’t have to sleep in the car for a while.
Her children were so grateful they each wrote thank you notes. Her son’s really captures their story:
“Thank you so much for helping me and my family with everything … You took a lot off my mom’s shoulders, from nights she got no sleep, stressing what to do, stressing how to make that money, how we gonna do this … she never gave up. You helped a lot and I finally [saw] her sleep. Though she’s still working hard, she finally got some sleep. I just wanna say thank you for everything. It means a lot to me and my family. Thank you. I appreciate you.” ~ Chris, age 15
Still working hard but struggling, Schawniekaw is now part of the Economic Mobility program where she meets regularly with a trained caseworker to create a plan for the future and keep moving toward financial stability.
In the meantime, she is grateful to community members like you who make help available through Crisis Assistance Ministry.
“You are angels. I didn’t know what we were going to do”, she says. “Without you, we definitely would be homeless right now.”
