Brenda Stevens is looking forward to this New Year for the first time in a long time. One of our most recent Getting Ahead graduates, Brenda recently completed the Money & Me workshop where she learned skills to help her family not just survive — but thrive and look to the future. Though she and her husband are in their 60s, they are raising their 10-year-old great-granddaughter and “life was tough” when we first met her at our evening food pantry in Monroe. 

“It’s like I’m excited again. Life was so dreary and scary and now it’s like there’s things to look forward to, and we’re making progress to be more financially stable,” she said. “We have hope now and lots and lots of resources and some amazing new friends.”

Brenda has worked in local schools for a long time, but after switching departments this year to work in the classroom as a teacher’s assistant that meant summers off without pay. It sounded nice – until the bills started coming. 

“I didn’t think ahead about that and so that really, really caught us unaware and put us in a huge bind,” she said. “So we started living off the credit cards and it just snowballed. You can’t get out from under.” 

Her husband works in construction doing grading work – but if the weather is bad, that’s a day off without pay.   

“No work for him equals no pay, so that really affects the household budget. I know with my check I can cover the house, insurance and vehicle payments, you know the big stuff. That’s easy to plan for. It’s the utilities, food and other things that pop up. For example, our washing machine broke recently and we don’t have the money to get it fixed.”  

The need for groceries led Brenda to our friends at The Blessing Cart in Monroe. When they heard her story, they sent her down the street to our evening Monday night pantry at Benton Heights Presbyterian Church. It was there – that very first visit – that she met Grace Lotharp, our Economic Empowerment Outreach Leader and a Getting Ahead graduate herself. 

Through the completion of GA and now the Money & Me workshop, Brenda says they’ve already made some changes and are on the path to stability. She is also enrolled in our Emergency Savings Incentive Plan (ESIP) and working with a life coach to reach her goals. 

“Before that first GA session, I was really nervous, really scared, and kind of embarrassed. You don’t expect to be in a position like that, especially at my age. In your 60s, you would think by now that things are supposed to be settled and that just wasn’t the case for us,” she said. “But after I got started I realized that it was not anything like I expected. I found out I wasn’t alone, that there are so many others struggling too, and others our age.”  

‘Who taught you about money?’ 

When our Economic Empowerment Director Delan Fulgham asked that question at the start of the Money & Me resource-building workshop Brenda said she was stumped. 

“I had never thought about that and you know I didn’t really know how to answer it,” she said. “I grew up poor and realized that it was really my Mom who taught me about money. She was a single Mom and really struggled. I started babysitting at 12 to bring in money for food and by 15 was a nanny – all that money went right to Mom. She just taught me that you do what you have to do.” 

But growing up, there was no such thing as savings and that’s something Brenda said she carried into adulthood.

“I knew money was something you had to have but I never really looked far ahead. That was a big wake up for me during the workshop,” she said. “I’ve started being more careful with my spending and I’ve started paying attention, asking myself ‘Is this really going to help me out in the long run? Is this something that I really need right now?’”

Brenda says she’s always been “thrifty,” but after the workshop realized that just because something they will use eventually is on sale doesn’t mean she always has to get it.

“It seems like I used to go into a store to grab milk and I’m coming out with 10 or 11 things. I always spent more than I intended to,” she said. “Now, I see I could have put that extra in savings. It was a real ‘ah ha’ moment for me.”

If you think you would benefit from Getting Ahead, apply online at Getting Ahead – Common Heart. Participants receive a $35 Wal-Mart gift card plus free dinner and free childcare (if needed) for every session they attend. Graduates have the opportunity to receive free life coaching and earn a $500 emergency savings deposit into a bank account through our Emergency Savings Incentive Plan (ESIP). Call Ruth Wilson at 704-875-7887 with any questions. 

If you would like to help support the GA program with meal donations, email EmpowermentOutreach@CommonHeart.org. Speakers are also needed to share expertise during monthly resource meetings.