Leaving welfare behind

By Sam Blackwell ~ Southeast Missourian

Madeline Garcia's husband was in jail, and she had exhausted her cash benefits through the welfare system. She was trying to support herself and three young children as a waitress and her utilities were about to be shut off when she was referred to Dennis Rigdon at the Private Industry Council. Rigdon told her about a new faith-based mentoring program aimed at helping people on welfare make the transition to work.

"At the time I didn't realize what I was getting into," Garcia said.

Ralina Glenn had a part-time job with low pay, was pregnant and living with her parents last October when she contacted the Missouri Mentoring Partnership, another welfare-to-work program. "I wanted to see if they could help me find another job," she said.

Just over a year ago, Janice Houston was a single parent with two jobs, two children and no self-esteem. Her family could eat through the help of food stamps but couldn't afford a kitchen table to eat at.

"I was really needing some help," Houston said.

These Cape Girardeau women's lives aren't easy today, but they have a greater sense of control and a better support system thanks to welfare-to-work mentoring programs. Theirs are typical success stories.

Wearing out tires

When Garcia went to Rigdon, she was driving a car with a damaged frame. She was putting a new set of front tires on the car almost once a month. "The tires were $100 for two of them. I did this for three months," Garcia said. "It got to the point where I got tired of it."

Rigdon pointed to another vehicle parked at Project Hope and said: "Would you like to have that car right there?" she recalled.

Helping people solve the transportation problems that make working more difficult is one of Project Hope's priorities. The vehicles have been donated to Project Hope. People in the program also can get help with mechanical repairs.

Garcia's husband, Tony, is back home now and working at a service station. He served time for driving while intoxicated and without a license.

She is working as a waitress at Breadeaux Pizza in Cape Girardeau and still receives about $100 in food stamps each month. When Tony returned home from jail, the food stamps were cut off for the two children that are his.

But a budgeting class has helped tremendously, she says. "We're slowly getting out of debt. We're both working and going to church, and we're communicating better."

After being together for 10 years, she and Tony got married in November.

"A lot of things in our marriage have been worked out, problems we had between each other," she says. "And the bills are being paid."

Put her mind at ease

Missouri Mentoring trained Glenn to do the job she has now: data entry and secretarial assistant at Davault Marketing Group in Cape Girardeau. She works 36 hours a week.

Glenn, who is 22 and has a 3-month-old son, Zachary, also received help with parenting. Missouri Mentoring has a baby store where clients can buy items. Spending hours with a mentor earns them play money to buy items in the store.

Glenn's husband, Ryan, is employed by Rubbermaid.

Her involvement in the program "put my mind at ease," she said. "When you have a son on way, you have a big worry how you're going afford all this."

She plans to continue in the program for a year and then wants to become a mentor herself. "They've done so much for me. I want to give something back," she said.

Pulling yourself out of poverty -- even with help -- doesn't occur instantaneously and without some missteps. Garcia's first try at mentoring with Project Hope didn't work out. "It wasn't my fault or their fault," she says. "I didn't know what to expect, and they didn't know what to do."

She has a different mentoring team now and has become good friends with one of her mentors.

Houston went on welfare right out of high school in 1991. Almost 10 years later, she was working with a home health service when she mentioned to a client that she didn't have a kitchen table. "She said, 'I'm going to make sure you get a kitchen table,'" Houston recalled.

The woman belongs to the same church Rigdon does. Soon, Rigdon was delivering a kitchen table to her home and talking to her about Project Hope.

'They keep you going'

The single parent of a 10-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, Houston is preparing to graduate from the Project Hope program after one year. Her life is different now.

"They have been a big encouragement for me. They push you and keep you going," she says.

Project Hope encouraged her to do back to school. She expects to graduate from Southern Illinois University this year with a degree in social work. And she is working with Project Hope as a social work associate and mentor coordinator.

"I'm working with young ladies like myself," she said.

Habitat for Humanity is scheduled to begin building a house for her family in May.

The crucial part of the mentoring process for Houston was finding someone she connected with. In her case, it was mentor Maxine Montgomery. "We were both single parents," Houston said. "She touched a place in my heart I didn't let anybody else get to."

Project Hope helped Houston with budgeting and helped her work on her low self-esteem.

"I was coming out of a bad relationship," she says. "It just wasn't where it is now. I believe in myself. I believe I can accomplish anything I set my mind to do.

"I have determination I'm going to make it."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182