This is the story of Travis and his young family. Earlier this year Travis came to Good Neighbors when he got a high utility bill that he simply did not have the money to pay for. Travis had been working in a restaurant and had lost his job the month prior. Luckily, he found a new job rather quickly. There was just one detail that made him very uneasy. It was a commission-based sales position and he didn’t have a lot of experience. The lucky part was that his new supervisor wanted to help him and drove him to GNBC for assistance during his lunch hour. The volunteer staff stayed a little later that day to accommodate him. 

Part of the coaching that all neighbors receive during their appointment is to be coached on how to make small changes and are encouraged to plan for the future. Travis was nervous during the appointment and was having trouble thinking about how he was going to feed his family until he started to make money. One of the suggestions from the coach and resources shared was to make use of the local food pantries to save on food costs. He also agreed it was a good idea to look into a part-time job that would offer him a steady paycheck to cover the basics while he worked on the commission job. Another plan was to start putting a small amount of his pay aside to fix a car that he wanted to sell.

GNBC was able to help him pay the utility bill and avoid a disconnection of services. He went back to work very grateful as was his supervisor that Travis would be able to focus on his job again. 

A couple of months later we called Travis to follow up as we do with all neighbors who receive assistance. He was very happy to hear from his coach again and told her that he was doing great. He had used the food panties multiple times and now has a different full-time job that he found by using the employment resources that we had provided him. Travis is happy in his new job and very appreciative of our help.