For the City Times
Written by Janie Garcia

When Accidents Happen

Mary came to North Central CAP in June of 2017 in need of rent assistance. She was behind with both rent and utilities and the threat of eviction was looming. Mary became unemployed in July of 2016 due to a work restriction because of an accident. While she continued looking for work, she had been living on savings and her unemployment checks. Unfortunately, she was unable to find work with her restriction and her unemployment and savings ran out. Mary came to see North Central CAP in mid-July of 2017 because she hadn’t anywhere else to turn. She was embarrassed and sad because she had never needed help in the past.  Mary took pride in being self-sufficient and independent. The job loss took its toll.

The outreach case worker with NCCAP completed a full needs assessment with Mary and found we could assist her with back rent with one of our housing programs, referred her to a couple of our partners in the community to assist with getting caught up on utilities and to provide food subsidies. In addition, we helped her to enroll in a training program that allowed us to pay her tuition and books.

Over the course of eight months Mary got back on her feet. She obtained employment in a new field of work, is completely caught up on her utilities and rent, and has stopped receiving food subsidies.  She is thrilled to be working in a new career, to be self-sufficient once again and is grateful for North Central CAP’s and the community partners for the assistance she received during a difficult time.

Janie Garcia is an outreach case worker at North Central Community Action Program, Inc., a non-profit organization in Wood County that works with the homeless and near homeless. NCCAP provides resources and advocate for people to help them become self-sufficient. NCCAP does this by identifying the need and connecting people to not only the resources we have available but also the appropriate resources in their community.