Gary, a St. Louis native, has been involved with CEF since participating in the Opportunity Class earlier this year. The road that brought him to where he is now is long, but it began with a decision to take steps to overcome his addiction. “I was down in Florida for a little over a year and I moved back to Chapel Hill,” Gary said. “I was dropped off at the men’s shelter and that’s when I decided that I needed help with my alcoholism. That was fourteen months ago and I haven’t had a drink since.” Overcoming addiction was not easy, but Gary was committed to quitting, and attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings regularly, often three days a week for six months. “Once I got focused on letting go of the bottle I wanted to pursue better things, get a job to where I could hold a job and I couldn’t do that in the shape that I was in,” he said.

Once Gary found the support he needed through AA, he began exploring new ways to make progress when he found CEF. Gary participated in the twelve-week Opportunity Class and, after completing it, got a job working for the PTA Thrift Store through connections he made in the class. Through the class Gary learned to budget his money, in addition to building lasting relationships. “I became friends with all the CEF people either through Talking Sidewalks or the CEF program,” Gary said. “We just all pulled together, networked. Financially, they are still helping me out, showing me how to manage my money to the point I can become functional.”

Asked what was special about CEF compared to other social service programs, Gary said that difference was the relationship-oriented approach. “They care. They care. They really do. I’ve been around [other] places but they didn’t really take the interest or the time to get to know you like CEF does.” Working with CEF member advocates, Gary has set both immediate and long-term goals for himself. “Right now I’ve got a goal of saving up two thousand dollars to get me a place of my own, so I can have my own keep,” he said. “My long-term goal is to restart a handyman service and maybe hire a couple of people.” Speaking from his own experience with CEF, Gary has this to say to others working through similar problems: “Hang in there. It’ll come to you. Don’t give up on yourself first of all.

CEF will provide the information needed and they have been a great help to me. So just hang in there.” He understands the hesitation some experience before they join CEF. “I didn’t want to come at first,” he said. “I said no, if I can’t get a job it was because of me. I wasn’t the type of person to really go out and ask for help, until I got sober, then [I realized] I was able to lean on someone else. It’s ok to ask for help, what you do with it is on your own.” Gary has made amazing progress since reaching out and joining the CEF family.

Interview and Article by: Tim Longest

By Jonathan Young

“You are the only person that holds you back.
It’s up to me to accept it and try to do something about it.”

We first met Maria through Talking Sidewalks. She was living in the HomeStart women’s shelter in Chapel Hill but she was full of ambition. “I learned that a place is what you make of it,” she says. Maria had had a long career in Information Technology in Maryland, and moved to Raleigh, NC for a better job in the field. The job was great, but at the same time Maria was battling with a rare disease called PCD that caused her to get frequent lung infections. She was hospitalized after one of the infections, and her doctors told her she couldn’t keep working with her health conditions.

After leaving the hospital, Maria was without a job and money to pay rent; she had no other option but to turn to a shelter. “When I walked through the doors of the Homestart Women’s shelter, I was afraid, and because of fear I was expecting to be on my guard,” says Maria, but the staff embraced her and within her first weeks she got involved with the CEF Opportunity Class that was being held weekly in the shelter.

Working with CEF, Maria was able to connect with SSI and the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program and find an affordable place to live in Durham, NC. “It was like magic,” says Maria. “I wish the world would stop looking at a person that has been in a homeless shelter like it is a bad thing; personally, I’ve grown so much since I went through that and I’m forever grateful for the experience.”

Maria says she has learned a lot about savings and financial responsibility through working with CEF. “I was always used to living in the ‘right now’… but now that i have a savings plan and a goal, It makes me think twice.” Using CEF’s Safe Savings Accounts, Maria met her first savings goal of a personal emergency fund within just two months and is now saving to start her own small business: Picc Me By Design, creating stylish and comfortable Picc Line covers for medical patients.

Maria remembers her father always saying, “ You’ve got to have a backup plan in whatever you choose to do in this life,” and now she does. “I’m happy now,” says Maria, “from the shelter to here is just a beginning point in my life. With the help from CEF I’m ready to change the world one person at a time!”

*update 9-2-11
Last week, the women at the Homestart shelter threw Maria a send-off party because she had landed a fantastic job in Washington State in the IT field. She’s absolutely thrilled to be going back to work, and it was inspiring / beautiful / overwhelming to see how much the women at homestart respected, cared, and looked up to Maria. She’ll be greatly missed, but we know she’s moving on to do great things in her life!

By Jonathan Young