Helping to meet a family's needs in hard economic time

A woman, her husband and two children, 9 and 7 years old, came to CCA a few months ago. They do not have any family members to help them. So CCA has become their new family during this time.

Their income had been variable since they started living here. The husband’s unemployment ran out while at CCA's Hillside Family Shelter and then was not reinstated for almost three weeks in this hard economic time.  They only had the disability income that they  receive monthly.

 

During this shortage of their own cash, they received gas cards for their car which they used to transport their children to and from CCA to Branford so they could continue attending the elementary public school according to their rights of the McKinney Vento Act.  Going to the same school has helped their children adjust well to their recent move here.

The food cards have helped them to maintain the family’s nutritional needs.  Unfortunately, their food stamp card’s magnet needed to be replaced so they turned in the old card to be replaced by the State of Connecticut.  It has yet not arrived from Hartford.  The cards have helped them buy food for their children’s school snacks and nutritional meals for their family. 

These two services, the gas cards and the  food cards, have been essential for their family especially their children.  They are so grateful to the CCA's grant from Neighborhood to Neighborhood LifeLine and their staff for continuing these programs.

 

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Settling in to move forward

A mother and her three children came to CCA’s Hillside Family Shelter after having ”bounced” from house to house. She moved into her own apartment within the Shelter and began to utilize the services and programs that were available, though the reasons for her homelessness made it difficult for her to “settle in.” She has been able to receive food from CCA’s food pantry, pampers from the New Haven Diaper Bank site at CCA and case management support through workshops and referrals to other organizations. Since coming to the Shelter she found a part time job, which offers her a limited income but not enough to “make ends meet.”   Through CCA’s Temporary Assistance Program (TAP) funded by Neighbor to Neighbor LifeLine, she was able to receive gas cards and gift cards from other two stores. With these cards, she is able to get to and from work and drop the children off at babysitters. She is also able to purchase food and household items.   All of this assistance is helping her get settled in her own apartment so that she can have something to help her get on her feet. She has even been able to save some money towards her efforts to obtain permanent housing. She has been able to use TAP to assist her with organizing her life and contacting prospective landlords for an apartment in the New Haven area to be able to move forward. 

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