Sometimes a good outcome takes the efforts of several CHOICE staff members working together to make things happen. Almost one year ago, we were notified by a county agency about a gentleman (“Walter”) who needed our help but wasn’t able to ask us for it himself. Unfortunately, at the time, he was homeless, and by the time we went to look for him, we couldn’t find him. Our team never forgot about him and never gave up on him and eventually, against stiff odds, we found him wandering the hallways of a local mall… he’d been trying to catch some cat naps in the bedding section of a department store. We approached him and tried to enroll him in our programs so that we could help him obtain the social services he so desperately needed. He declined… over and over and over… until…

Finding Comfort at Jobs Workshops

We solicited the help of one of our program managers to approach Walter about our new jobs program. Much to our surprise, Walter was completely open to engaging with our organization through our workshops, but he was overwhelmingly anxious about traveling on a bus to get to us… or about leaving his comfort zone. Our team worked with him, practicing getting on the bus everyday in preparation for him to attend the workshops. Once he was able to attend, he did so religiously… every Wednesday… without fail. This was only the beginning for Walter.

From attending the workshops and engaging with our team, Walter began to see a light at the end of the tunnel. He’d come from such a dark place and suddenly had hope of a future for himself. While he attended the workshops, other members of our team stepped in to work with Walter to obtain benefits. Not only did Walter sign up for our services, but he convinced his sister to sign up as well! After much time and effort, Walter got back onto the SPOA list (a service to the county for housing through the Department of Community Mental Health). He’d spent so much time being homeless, and had even survived a violent attack on his life in a shelter, that he had no hope of ever having his own place to live again. We are so proud to announce that Walter is now successfully housed via MHA housing…and he’s in the same building with his sister!

Hope & Dignity for Walter

This is why we do what we do…for the Walters of the world who have no hope and no dignity…..There IS hope and there IS dignity and we’re dedicated to bringing that to every client who comes to us seeking assistance…and those we have to seek out sometimes too!