GRACE sees families every day with a need that they are not able to meet themselves. That’s why we’re here – to create bridge from them to the resource and have them walk away knowing that the need has been met and that there is hope for a bright future.
Yet, some stories are more difficult to hear – in the last month a client came to sign up her four grandchildren for the GRACE Christmas Cottage. She had recently terminated from her job and had already exhausted her savings to cover household expenses over the past weeks, but now she was facing disconnection of her electric and gas bill.
She further explained that she adopted her grandchildren after their parents struggled with severe substance abuse and incidents of domestic violence. In spite of all her efforts to try to provide a safe and stable home for her grandchildren, she was facing financial hardship. She had applied for other resources but was denied due to the value of her property regardless of her current employment status and situation.
But GRACE stepped in and was able to provide her with utility assistance, issued winter clothing packets and coats for her grandchildren and got her all set up to shop for them at the Cottage in the coming weeks.
The client expressed deep gratitude for everything GRACE was able to do to help her during these trying times. She left with a spark of hope and the knowledge that help would continue to be there when or if she needed it most.
