516|1,086|33,900|60,600
What do these numbers represent?
For the Arizona YWCA Metropolitan Phoenix, they represent our neighbors, our families, our community! These are the individuals we serve each day. In the past year, our YWCA moved 516 people closer to financial stability; our YWCA fed 1,086 Seniors and disabled adults, our YWCA made over 94,000 meals and touched these lives in ways that are so profound!
These recent testimonials tell the story:
From one of our Own It Financial Education graduates:
“I was raised in poverty with no ambition around me. My parents split up when I was an infant. I met my first boyfriend in high school who told me something that changed my life. He simply stated, “You don’t have to live like this.” That’s when I realized I have the power to change my life. I became a single mother at 16, my baby’s father disappeared, and my father out of the picture, I went to live in public housing with my grandma till I was 18. Then I qualified to have my own apartment at public housing, working part time making $9/hour. One year I was laid off and then accepted a job right away, making $13 an hour. I thought I was rich! Then the trouble began. Suddenly I made too much for assistance, started drinking too much, and my account was always overdrawn. Then I saw a flyer and it was this thing called OWN IT, A financial education class. The answer to my prayers! Well I signed up for this FREE class and within a year I saved up $3,500 and I bought my first home at 24yrs old as a single mother. This program has made it possible for my #1 dream to come true and has opened other possibilities for new dreams and accomplishments. I am now a much more confident determined women and first in my family to own a home. I am breaking the cycle of poverty and raising my daughter in a much more positive environment. I owe it all to the YWCA and OWN IT program.”
Daughter of Senior enrolled in Meals on Wheels Program
“Mother was not eating, expressed no interest in foods or choices in foods for anybody to even fix for her. Mother seemed withdrawn and depressed and several family members tried to intervene to help, but to no avail. No matter what we tried it didn’t work. I was becoming frustrated and felt like I was letting my Mother down. I am sure she also felt this tension between us. Now that the meals come every day she is eating, talking about how good the food is, how nice her driver is and we get to enjoy a light dinner together, with no stress related to food. I had no idea it would make this much of a difference.”
In today’s wild news cycle, we often forget the real people that are touched by social service programs. For our YWCA, we see and hear them each day. The single mom who is working hard to ensure that her family is take care of; the senior who is homebound and the disabled adult who needs assistance to remain independent. These are our neighbors and our friends. They are people who are a part of the fabric of our society; people who are not faceless or nameless. At the YWCA, we are honored to serve them.