Sometimes, things can pile up, and we feel like we cannot get out from under the weight of shut doors and negative answers. I am here to tell you there is a way if you want it and are willing to make the effort to accomplish your goals. This is the story of Brenda and her two children, Anthony and Marcus. 

They live in an ancestral home that was passed down to Brenda five years ago after she married John. Unfortunately, John passed away last year from cancer, and since then, Brenda has been struggling to make ends meet on one income. The boys have had a difficult time in school while dealing with the loss of their father, and Brenda has been working as much as possible to cover all their bills. She has an office job Monday through Friday and also picks up extra work on the weekends serving at a local restaurant. Even with a second job, she was behind on her mortgage.

Brenda heard of the Mentorship Program that Good Neighbors started earlier this year through a coworker at the restaurant. Since January, her friend has also been enrolled in the program and is thriving, so she wanted to share this opportunity with Brenda. Brenda called GNBC to see what it was all about and spoke with our new Mentor, Courtney. She was invited into the office to review her eligibility for the program and saw that she was eligible. She liked what she heard about goal setting and reaching economic independence with the guidance of a dedicated mentor to help her. That same day, she enrolled in the program and set her first goal. Soon after, she learned that the home that had been in her family for three generations would be put into foreclosure the following month unless she could pay the past due by the end of the month. Things had just started to look like there was a way forward, and now she was underwater again.

Thankfully, Brenda and Courtney have been able to build a good rapport and trust, so Brenda felt she could come to her mentor for guidance on what to do. They set a new goal to work through the steps to overcome this challenge. By the end of the appointment, Brenda was feeling much better now that she had a plan and could see a way forward. As she left the office that day, Brenda said, “I feel like a door has been opened for my kids and me, and we will be okay.”