“I am standing here today a totally different person than who I was when I began the program in April 2022. When I began I was freshly out of a very toxic marriage that lasted 10 years. In that marriage, I had no say in what was coming in or going out financially and was conditioned to believe I could never be successful on my own.
This program not only taught me how to manage a budget and start saving, but also gave me the confidence to realize I can, as a single mom of 3, be financially independent and support my family.
Love Your Neighbor and my Life Skills leader Wendy gave me an opportunity to be able to prove to myself I can manage the life my family was building all on my own. Being able to realize I am able to pay rent on time every month was a huge milestone for me after living with family for two years.
I believe God led me to participate in this program. You know you are in the right place when after an overwhelming, you feel fully lifted of the stress when you leave. You leave with a positive outlook on the next week to come.
This program has also meant so much to my kids. Every week we are looking forward to the program night and it brings me so much joy to still be looking forward to it even though I am graduating.
I want to thank Wendy for everything she has pushed me to accomplish as well as never giving up on me and being so patient especially when I first started and wanted to give up. I also want to thank my peer support for being there for me every week and really allowing me to see all the good things I have accomplished over the year and a half that I have been in this program.
I have a special thank you to Jenison Public Schools and their parent liaisons. They have been with me since the very beginning. They gave me the resources and support to be where I am today, especially grateful for they introduced me to Love.
I proudly stand here for all the single moms out there. I know it’s hard to believe you can do it sometimes but I promise you, you can and you will do it.”
