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.