By Holly Gardner, Intake and Resident Specialist
Earlier this week, friends, families and staff gathered
for a special celebration for families who have successfully completed the
Community LINC program. Our host,
Second Presbyterian Church, made this evening wonderful and feelings of hope
and celebration were palpable. They graciously provided dinner and housewarming
gifts to all the graduates.
3 program participants s described the
ways Community LINC transformed and touched their lives, contributing to their
success. As they searched for the right words
I could see how touched they were and how their sentiments were in turn
touching everyone in the room - including the families who hae recently entered
the program. As our Employment Service
Job Coach presented each family with a certificate of success, it was easy to
recall the families’ first weeks with us, their struggles, and their growth and
each family’s new connection with permanent housing - in spite of barriers, in
spite of the odds.
During this same week, Community
LINC program staff attended the first of several seminars on the Housing First
Concept, an approach to ending homelessness that centers on providing
people experiencing homelessness with housing as quickly as possible – and then
providing services as needed. What
resonated the most with me is that our families have the capability of doing so
much more then we know or understand. They have the capability to change
their own lives. Our job is to build relationships, build trust and on
most days this will be work enough.
As each one of our graduating
families walked up to receive their embossed certificate, their smiles spoke a
thousand words. Later in the week during our training I saw those smiles again
in my mind. We are only touching their lives for such a short time and
what will we say to them while we are honored to be there? What will they (and
we) take with them when they leave here? Relationships.
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