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EDUCATION Chaka felt completely alone when she first entered High School. That is, until she found a United Way funded peer counseling and support group especially for female youth with disabilities, at partner agency Access Living. The group had an immediate and positive affect on Chaka.
Claire was a single mother without many resources. She couldn’t afford to pay for child care, so her daughter Nicole was cared for by her great-grandmother. With help from the United Way Claire was able to find childcare while she finished her degree in social work and graduated from college.
Debra grew up on Chicago’s North Side in a neighborhood where a staggering number of youth drop out of school, join gangs and fail to achieve their fullest potentials. But with the help of the United Way, she beat the odds.
 Fernando discovered that being an adolescent can be tough, no matter what language you speak. For Fernando, who came to the U.S. at 12, succeeding at school and talking to people in English was a challenge.
Jasmine, at age seven, became involved in the YMCA mentoring program. There she met Hilda, the mentor and role model who has stood by her side every since and walked her down a completely new path in life.
INCOME
Sarah and her two children were homeless with nowhere to turn. But Sarah found a United Way funded program in Palatine that integrates social services and shelter for women fleeing situations of domestic violence.
Sue was a hard-working single mother with two young children. No matter how hard she tried to budget her limited income, she fell further and further behind until, eventually, she could no longer afford to keep a roof over her family’s heads. They were homeless. Just when she was beginning to think there was no hope, Sue found a United Way-funded housing program that changed her life.
HEALTH
Brett was diagnosed at just two months old with severe hearling loss - and it was permanent. His parents had no idea where to turn or whether they could even afford the expensive hearing devices he would need. But through a United Way partner they found help.
Mary Ann, at 50, works as a waitress at a local restaurant in Oak Park. She earns enough to get by, but health insurance has always been a luxury she could not afford.
Roxanne had a seizure that caused her to run into a tree and put her in the hospital. Without insurance and unable to find a job, Roxane could not afford the medication she needed. That is until a United Way funded program helped her get her medication for an affordable co-payment and got her in to see a neurologist regularly.
Sue, 88, of LaGrange Park, has found a healthy lunch, friendly faces and a place to exercise at a United Way funded program for seniors for the past 20 years. She and her older sister have been going to the West Suburban Senior Center three times per week since Thanksgiving 1987.
Tsui Sim was forced to re-locate at ninety-six years of age to a completely new environment in Chicago. She discovered a United Way funded adult daycare program that was just what she needed to be happy and healthy. |
