- Survivor Story
- Our House, Our Castle
- Direct Support Leads To Permanent Solutions
- A Happy Ending or Beginning?
- Poised for the Next Step
Survivor Story
Miss Jones met with WC&S to share her survivor story. Her story, as told in her words, is below.
I was in an abusive relationship and didn't know how to get out. I felt hopeless. One day leaving church I started talking to a friend who works in social services. As it turned out she too had been in an abusive relationship. She was able to finish my sentences. She knew just was I was feeling. She gave me the WC&S hotline number!
I called the hotline several times. They worked with me to develop a safety plan. I packed an emergency bag with clothes and important papers. I put that at my mom's house. It took a month for space to become available in shelter! Finally, space was available, and it was not too soon.
The abuse was starting to transfer to my three daughters. I was a school bus driver, so I had to leave early to get to work. I would call to check on my girls. I hated hearing their sadness because he was yelling at them. He'd make them feed him after school instead of the other way around. It broke my heart. I started to move items at night when he was working, but he must have sensed something was going on because he stopped going to work for about a week.
And the day came when the risk to remain a bud was more painful than the risk to blossom. Finally, that Friday, January 16th, 2009 he went to work. My oldest two knew when they said goodbye to him that day, we'd be leaving. We were all so excited.
“The counselor I had at the time suggested that I apply for the Bartko Grant...I also received the Irene O. Bartko Self Sufficiency Award.”
When the door opened, I ran through. When we arrived at shelter, my little one cried, but my older two were as excited as I was. I had no idea what to expect going into the shelter. I pictured a big room with cots and people stealing shoes. It was nothing like that at all. It was a very positive experience. We slept so good the first night! It was so peaceful.
I was numb by the time of the great escape, but I didn't know it until I started group. I realized that we were all suffering posttraumatic stress. My oldest was wetting the bed, had headaches, and was unable to sleep, etc. All of that stopped when we got to shelter and all started in group. I was in shelter for 2 months.
One day at group I met Miss Mary Anne from PA Women Work. She was talking about nontraditional careers. That really lit a fire in me because I always wanted to be an electrician. I love working with my hands. I took assessment tests and scored highest in the technology categories. I was accepted into and graduated from the MWELA (Minority and Educational Labor Agency) Program! I found out what I really wanted to do.
While I was in that program, PA Women Work honored me with the "Women of Triumph" Award in 2009.
While doing New Choices I was accepted into New Option HeartHouse Transitional Housing offered by Goodwill on the Southside. It was a large, beautiful apartment. March 14, 2009 we moved in. I was so overwhelmed! Everything I need was there and my case worker had even decorated in all of our favorite colors.
The MWELA Program was mainly for carpentry. It was very exciting for me. I even bought my own drill! Everything was really awesome. I even started to ace math, a subject I had struggled with in the past. My girls and I would do homework together. Life was good! I graduated in October 2010.
I continued to participate in my group here at WC&S. The counselor I had at the time suggested that I apply for the Bartko Grant. I applied for a computer, desk, chair and work boots. And I got it! I also received the Irene O. Bartko Self Sufficiency Award. Mr. Thomas Kennedy at UPMC, Director of Capital Projects, heard my speech and he was inspired. He asked what he could do for help.
I was already a Certified Trainer and recently became a Certified Smith System Trainer. I have become one of the top trainers in my job. I still have my heart set on being an electrician one day. Friends and family see me now and comment on how at peace I look Transitional housing ends in March. I'm working to repair my credit so I can buy a house. And I applied to "Ways to Walk" for low interest car loans. It was accepted and helped me purchase an SUV. The girls are doing wonderfully. They are excelling in school and thriving in our new world. They are musicians and athletes as well as A students.
Knowledge gives you the wings to soar, watch me soar!
WC&S staff are very proud of Miss Jone's success, and wish her the best in her future!
www.wcspittsburgh.org
Our House, Our Castle
October 3, 2008
Mr. Carl Ellis Perkins
Executive Director
Bartko Foundation
P.O. Box 17160
Pittsburgh, PA 15235
Dear Mr. Perkins:
I am writing today on my family’s behalf to thank the Bartko Foundation from the bottom of our hearts for its very significant role in financially supporting our family’s endeavor to become homeowners through your gift to Open Hand Ministries.
Now that we are pretty much settled in, I can take the time to properly express our gratitude for your kindness and support. We are very happy to be new members of the Garfield Community. This generous gift assisted us greatly in obtaining our lovely home. Our home is very well insulated and equipped with all energy efficient appliances. This is a blessing, indeed. The cost of energy associated with living in a house was definitely a concern for us, but now I feel that it won't be the financial burden that I feared.
“This was, in all sincerity, a heart-warming and humbling experience for us.”
We are members of Valley View Presbyterian Church; a church that I love. My entire family grew up attending Valley View. It is awesome to watch it grow under the leadership of Pastor Chad Collins and our church Elders. The addition of Open Hand Ministries is a true gift to our community. Director Michael Stanton is very passionate about the Ministry and the neighborhoods it serves. Thank you for supporting its mission. My family is blessed to have the support of community leaders. When I learned about the many caring hearts that supported our goal of home ownership, I was definitely overwhelmed. I know that companies, foundations and individuals donate to worthy causes and charities. I just never thought that my family would receive such support. This was, in all sincerity, a heart-warming and humbling experience for us. Our journey to walk a righteous path has been greatly rewarded with a beautiful home and strong, new Christian relationships. What could be more wonderful than that!
My son, Matthew, and I are so very grateful for the Bartko Foundation’s support. We couldn’t be happier or more content in our new home. I look forward to our first holidays, our first cook outs and many more blessed years to come here.
We send our deepest appreciation to the Bartko Foundation for its kindness and generosity. Thank you for helping us to realize our dream!
Always sincere,
Robin & Matthew
Direct Support Leads To Permanent Solutions
Dear Board of Directors and Mr. C Ellis Perkins,
I just received your letter informing me that you will be assisting me with my registration fee, books and uniforms in order that I can attend school.
I don’t think you realize how very much this means to me and my children. I have never received any sort of assistance while raising my 2 girls as I don’t believe in it, and don’t have a support system. This is the first time I’ve actively searched for help. I am a firm believer in that if you address fundamental problems instead of treating just the symptoms, that a lot of the issues we deal with today in our country could be resolved.
Your organization is doing just that. Myself, and every other single mother in America doesn’t need hand outs or temporary fixes, we need practical answers to the foundational struggles that we deal with. The attitude behind your approach is what will ultimately fix the broken.
“What you have done is enable me to provide independently for my children.”
I have no words to articulate how grateful and humbled I am that you would choose to help me go back to school. I’ve been trying for so long, but things that are small problems to others are huge ones for people who don’t have family assistance, a support system, and income earning potential. What you have done is enable me to provide independently for my children. As single mothers we end up attempting to depend upon people we know we shouldn’t trust with our children so we can work two jobs. The instillation of strong values and character is ignored in favor of trying to find a way to survive, and our children then end up growing up to struggle and be just like us because we can’t or won’t break the cycle. And so the infrastructure of our country is weakened and destroyed.
Thank you so so so much for choosing to help me. It means more than you can ever understand. I have mailed back the signed agreement that you sent me and hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks again so much for your help. I really don’t have a way to explain to you how much hope you’ve given me.
A Happy Ending or Beginning?
You decide…
In February the Bartko Foundation was contacted by Chatham College concerning a young mother in need of a car. We asked Chatham to work with her to identify a car and vendor, and to help with the completion of her funding request. By May, when the school term was over, the foundation was notified that the young woman was ready to act. She had located a car and was submitting an application to request financial assistance.
Areesha is a 22 year old single African American mother of an 18 month old daughter working as an intern. In January 2005 she decided to go back to school and was accepted at Chatham College. Areesha found her first semester challenging as she had a two year absence from academics and had recently moved into her own home. She was requesting assistance to purchase a vehicle “because the physical exhaustion of catching 4 buses per day to get my daughter to her day care and then to school is becoming very overwhelming.” In addition Areesha had to use public transportation to do grocery shopping, run errands, and take her daughter to routine doctor appointments, carrying her daughter along with packages and books.
Areesha said “I strongly believe in being an independent woman and never look at assistance as an excuse to being lazy. I am currently on public assistance but decided to continue my college education because I want my daughter to know that a single mother in poverty has the power to overcome the traps of being a minority. I am currently a sophomore and finished this past semester with a 3.35 GPA…I am also interning for a non-profit organization...I believe in being self sufficient and I work hard to want it.”
Areesha submitted her request of $3,000 to assist her in purchasing a used car on June 3rd and because she expressed her need so clearly and it was well founded, the Bartko Foundation was able to grant her request on June 15th.
Poised for the Next Step
On June 28th Areesha sent the following note of thanks…
It is said that life and the people that participate in it are often cruel and uncaring. It is said that hardship and pain is the only way to become successful in life, although success is not always guaranteed. I know and have experienced some of the negatives that life seems to throw my way. I, as a single mother, am aware of the burdens that we must carry in order to gain security. Sometimes the difficulties that single mothers are faced with seem overbearing and never-ending. We search for help and ways to make our load a little lighter. When we least expect it, organizations such as the Bartko Foundation step in to lend a hand.
I want to extend my appreciation to this foundation and the people that form it. Words cannot express the gratitude that I have toward institutions that find joy in just simply helping those that sometimes find it striving to help themselves. My dream is to one day direct a non-profit organization designed to assist both women and young women with the issues that they face in the world. You have just added fuel to the fire of my desires…
Again, I thank you for the opportunity of receiving a gift from those who believe in single mothers becoming success stories for themselves, their families and their communities.