Community Action Services and Food Bank (CASFB) changes people’s lives, embodies the spirit of hope, improves communities, and makes them a better place to live.
We care about the entire community, and we are dedicated to helping people help themselves and each other.
Success Story 1 – Steve and Gail*
It was mid-August. Steve and Gail came into the office with their three children – a new born (about 12 weeks old), a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy. The father heard that CASFB could possibly help with buying some gas for their van. He was currently looking for work and needed the gas to get to job interviews.
The caseworker noticed the family smelled like campfire. She asked where they were staying. The young boy spoke up, “Oh, we’ve been camping. We have stayed near the river and down by the lake. We stayed at a really cool camp… It’s been fun.” After his explanation, he turned to his dad and said, “Dad, we need to go home because school is going to start soon.” Steve broke the news to his son that they did not have a home to return to. The family’s belongings were in storage. They had been camping to save money for a new apartment.
Steve was laid off from his job, earlier that summer. Their baby had birth complications, so he was using his unemployment check to pay for the health insurance. He was doing the best he could to find a new job. However, he did not have a phone, so it was very difficult to hear back from potential employers.
CASFB provided temporary housing for the family in a local motel. Within two weeks, Steve was able to find a good job. Within a month, the family was able to get into a new home in time for the little boy to start school.
*names have been changed
Success Story 2 – Emma
Emma is an 85-year-old widow who is homebound with no relatives living in the area. She lives on a low fixed income and owns her own home. She is able to cook on her own. She has high health care costs each month. She worries each winter about how she will pay her high heating utility bills.
Community Action Services and Food Bank helps Emma to remain in her home more comfortably. We provide a supplemental food box once a week to Emma to help meet her nutritional needs. We also help with her heating bill through the HEAT Program. We help her to complete her annual application for her property tax rebate or she would not be able to afford to stay in her home.
Emma had her home weatherized a few years ago. Even though we do not operate the program, we helped her to sign up for it. We make a home visit to see Emma about four times a year to assess her situation and continue to connect with her with resources to help improve her quality of life.
Success Story 3 – Sarah
When Sarah, a single mom with a daughter came in for food assistance, she was just getting out of an abusive marriage. She had just started working a few hours a week, had no car and little training. We helped to connect her with community resources for training and more. We helped her move into a new apartment by paying a part of the first month’s rent and utility deposit. We helped with food over a three-month period. During this time she attended a short-term training course and got promoted into a full-time good paying job. She was able to buy a small used car. She is now doing well.
Success Story 4 – John*
*John did not have father at home and had a poor relationship with his mother. His mother signed him up for the Community Action Youth Program against his will. John’s mentor had a very difficult time getting John to come to any activities, especially the group activities. John did not want to be in the program. John’s mentor really wanted to help, but even he started to doubt that they would ever get along. The mentor decided that no matter how many times John said ‘no,’ he would continue to call to schedule time to spend together. After three months of phone calls and visits, the mentor’s hard work finally paid off.
John and his mentor are regulars at the group activities and they enjoy one on one activities – especially fixing cars. They have a great relationship. John even planned one of the group activities – a thing he promised he would never do.
*name has been changed
