Success Story
When Conner, his wife Julieta, and their children Dominic age 4, Gloria age 2, and 9 month old Mariam, initially came to the Lighthouse Counseling & Family Resource Center, they were nearly homeless. The family had experienced many setbacks and obstacles had become very familiar to them all. Regardless, Conner had such a great attitude and believed that things would soon change. The Lighthouse gave Conner and his family referrals for different types of transitional housing in the surrounding communities. Conner quickly acquired temporary housing for the entire family at St. Vincent De Paul’s – New Beginnings program in Roseville, CA for approximately one month. It was difficult for the family of five living in a one-room studio, but Conner kept a positive attitude and he chose to follow through with what he knew to be the best thing for his family.
During that month timeline, Conner submitted rental applications in local apartment complexes in Lincoln, CA. Finally, the family was able to move into a small apartment from monies saved and by following through with his known responsibilities to his family and himself. The Lighthouse FRC was able to refer the family to the Salt Mine for supplemental food resources and furniture for their new apartment. The Lighthouse FRC was also able to supply them with mattresses donated by Sleep Train Foster Kids. Conner and his wife also enrolled their children into the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program for support with understanding the benefits of nutrition and the developmental stages of their children.
Once in Lincoln, Conner began coming to the Lighthouse each day to engage in Employment Readiness services for resumes, support with employment applications, mock employment interviews, utilize the client computer to send resumes to potential employers and to look for any type of work. Conner never lost hope that something positive was about to happen, as long as he kept moving forward in a positive direction. In spite of the struggles of our current economy, Conner interviewed for employment and graciously accepted a great full-time position at the Gladding-McBean plant in Lincoln. If he so chooses, Conner will now be able to utilize his new skills learned at the plant as a possible lifelong trade that can help support his family in the years to come.
The positive changes mentioned above, are just a few of the situations where we have seen Conner demonstrate that he is open and willing to listen to constructive feedback, willing to take healthy risks for positive change and take responsibility for his actions for himself and his family. Conner has the making of becoming a positive member of our Lincoln community. We believe in this young man, his family and all of the great things we know that he is capable of accomplishing.
