Hannah (not her real name) works in a CLC community. She always makes sure she has a smile on her face for residents, no matter what else is going on in her day. Unfortunately, over the last year Hannah has had to put a smile on over a lot of bad days.
On New Year’s Eve, the father of her 15-year-old daughter was tragically killed. Navigating the funeral and aftermath was difficult. Hannah had to take time off work to make sure her daughter got the support and care she needed. Things got even worse for Hannah and her family in March when she found out that she had cancer. The treatment was a surgery with a six-week recovery period followed by chemo.
Hannah has another young daughter in daycare. In order to get the surgery and treatment she needed, she needed that help with childcare more than ever. But with all the time off work, she had fallen behind on daycare payments with no way to catch up. “I had run out of PTO and it was starting to take a toll on my finances. It was very, very hard,” she said.
Perhaps you can imagine how overwhelmed Hannah must have felt. With no family in Colorado, she had no idea where she could turn to for help. And then, kind CLC supporters stepped in! Gifts to the Critical Needs Fund gave Hannah the financial help she needed to catch up on daycare payments.
“It did make a difference,” Hannah said. “Without that Critical Needs Fund I would have had a hard time taking time off work so I could get my surgery and make sure my child was taken care of while I was recovering.”
Hannah is back at work and supporting older adults – a job she loves. “Being in this community is a blessing for me,” she says. She still has some difficult days ahead as she and her family continue to process and to recover. But she is so grateful for the generous supporters who helped her make it through one of the worst times of her life.
Gifts to the Critical Needs Fund truly makes a difference for CLC team members and their families, including Hannah and her daughters.
It’s not always easy for team members to ask for help. But when team members thrive, the older adults they partner with in care thrive, too. Your gift to the Critical Needs Fund ensures that when hardship strikes, no team member has to face that moment alone.