LIFT Annual Report 2014: What Matters Most | Page 23

LIFT Impact Report 2014

REAL STORIES

“Financially, the
deck is stacked
against people, and I
want to keep helping
Members get out and
stay out of the debt
trap.”
about. Things like, am I going to get dinner tonight
after basketball practice? Looking back, I didn’t see
how complex poverty is. I’m seeing a fuller picture.
For example, I never thought about the mental health
connection. Without the right help, they’re not going to
make progress on those other tangible goals.
It’s like the time a water pipe burst and flooded my
apartment. I was irate, but after I calmed down I
remembered all the supports I had in place to assist
me through this situation. I had a doorman who caught
the flood early, insurance to cover all the damage,
somewhere I could stay in the meantime.
When one of my members was in a car accident, he was
experiencing traumatic stress, and we set him up with
a therapist weekly. It stabilized his mental state so he
could better make progress on the other issues. You
helped him organize his finances so he could pay his
bills on time, and you helped him get better insurance
coverage.
He just needed the opportunity to see his own
potential. Sometimes people just need someone in
their corner, and that the sense of accomplishment is
as important as the accomplishment itself.

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