Hi, I’m Rose and this is my family’s hope story…

My husband, Neil, and I, made an appointment to see a Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas case manager about our outstanding payday loan about nine months ago. We enrolled in Catholic Charities’ Kansas Loan Pay-Day Project (KLPP). Our family had been struggling with limited income as Neil part-time job has unpredictable hours. I couldn’t work as I was taking care of our daughter, Amber, who had recently been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. We’d been in and out of the hospital more than a few times over the past year with her illness.

Neil had missed potential days of work when Amber was in critical condition at the hospital. Not having that expected income, didn’t help – but Neil was where he needed to be, given it was touch-and-go with Amber. I have to be honest, we struggled with our living expenses including our KLPP payments.

Catholic Charities recently helped us with a utility bill so we could make our current KLPP payment. We have been getting groceries from the Catholic Charities’ food pantry and shopping at the Catholic Charities’ clothing closet to reduce monthly expenses. Our Catholic Charities’ case manager has been meeting with us monthly for case management, budgeting evaluation and encouragement. We signed up for Catholic Charities’ Family Financial Transformation Program. We’ve identified our spending leaks and are eliminating them from our expenses. We became WIC program recipients and we went on food stamps. Neil and I felt guilty and frustrated but we were surviving, thanks to Catholic Charities.

Over these last three months, we have begun to make progress on our budget goals. We got a handle on our bills and started having a little bit of savings at the end of each month. We became hopeful for our family’s future. I started working with our case manager on employment services and training. Amber is doing much better and we have the diabetes under control.

And – even more good news – I start a new, full-time job in two weeks! That’s benefits, a 401K and a good salary. Thank you, Catholic Charities, for having faith in us; for helping us believe in ourselves; and, for coaching us through our financial hurdles!