Our Daily Bread partners with local foundations for emergency assistance funding. This story about one of our guests highlights where this money goes.
Roberta felt as if she was at the end of her rope. She and her teenage son and daughter lived in poor conditions, in an apartment with a leaking roof and host of other problems. Roberta spent months requesting repairs from her landlord, all of which were ignored. As things worsened, she filed a complaint with the City of Cincinnati. The city cited the landlord, who, in a rage, evicted Roberta, leaving her with no place to go and no time to get there. Our Daily Bread paid for a storage unit so that Roberta would not lose all of her belongings while she found a new apartment. After three weeks of shuffling her family around, Roberta was finally able to find space for all three of them in an emergency shelter.
Understandably, Roberta is feeling very low. Her arthritis has made it so that she cannot do any work that involves standing, and she is struggling to keep her family together and sheltered while her children continue to attend school. Roberta’s social worker, Sr. Thérèse explains, “right now, she needs a lot of emotional support, but once her family is stabilized in housing, I’ve already got a call in to Cincinnati Works to find her a job that doesn’t require standing.” Sr. Thérèse began listing all of the referrals that she has lined up for Roberta – referrals that Roberta cannot even begin to think about for herself right now, but that will form the steps to lasting stability when she’s ready.
Every day, the Our Daily Bread Social Work Team, Pamela Lewis and Sister Thérèse DelGenio, walk gently with clients through crisis, carefully mapping out future dreams.
Read more about our Social Work program.