AN EXAMPLE OF HOW THE CSC SERVES OUR NEIGHBORS!

CSC Reaches Out to Stretch Your Donations

CSC serves people in many ways that often don’t include financial aid. Many of our applicants don’t know how to access assistance that is available from government funded sources or other nonprofit agencies. They are stuck in a crisis. CSC analyzes their situation and directs them to any appropriate resource. Sometimes this takes weeks or months of personal direction to achieve success. If all other resources have been used, CSC steps in. Here is an example:

Terrance is a single dad who lives with his disabled father. They split the rent. A few months ago, Terrance got laid off from a job he enjoyed working at for 9 years, and at the same time his dad was hospitalized. When he came to us, they were about to be evicted. We needed him to get an income enough to pay his bills moving forward before we could help. We got more time from his landlord to hold the eviction off, and by his next appointment, Terrance had a fulltime job at Subway in walking distance from his house. Between that and his dad’s disability payment, it was enough for them to be sustainable. CSC discovered he would be eligible for county assistance and helped Terrance apply. Soon enough, the county approved his application and paid all but $500! We paid $500 and stopped the eviction.

Then we kept working with him. He was comfortable with the job and seemed to want to keep it, just happy to have a job and be stable again. We stressed to him that his income would not be enough to allow him to save, to prevent a future crisis. He said the threat of being homeless with his daughter and father was the worst thought, so he agreed to keep looking for work. We helped create a resume for him and had him apply for better jobs. A construction company hired him, and within a month he was working a full-time job with overtime and benefits. Terrance couldn’t believe it! Now we are working with him on ways to build his credit score. He has already saved $100.