 Ever wish you could freeze frame a moment in your day, and look at it and say "This is not my life".
Due to my mom's and brother's medical problems, my family went from middle class to poverty. I somehow had a highly motivated gene in my DNA and despite my family's food stamp status, I managed to overcome many obstacles and enrolled and graduated from the University of Kansas in 1985. Later in life, I had a 4-year-old son and another son on the way when my husband of 11 years left me. I found myself in poverty again.
In 2003, I was a first-time home owner, a technical writer making $47,000 a year, a successful and profitable freelance magazine writer, and newlywed to a kind and loving Army staff sergeant.
In the spring of 2006, I was very excited to have quit my full-time job to start my own business with a reputable and successful financial services company. ‘Lifewise’, everything was falling into place: my car was paid for, my debts were minimal, my oldest son was accepted as a golden scholar at the School of Mines, and my husband was on his way home from Iraq. Success was definitely waiting for me just around the corner.
It wasn't two months after my husband came home that my car broke down costing $4,000 in repairs, my son announced he was joining the Navy and ditching Mines, and my husband announced that he no longer wanted to be married to me.
By September, my business cash flow was at zero, my part-time grant writing job barely paid for the bills and food. I lived in an apartment I couldn't afford, I stood in food pantry lines hoping to get enough food for the week, and attended a free thanksgiving dinner at Circle Drive Baptist Church not because it was thanksgiving, but because my family was hungry.
I read the TIP & IDA guidelines. I couldn't believe it. There's got to be a catch here somewhere I thought. But I couldn't find any-unless you consider the free financial education, entrepreneurial seminar, and self-development equirements a catch.
I asked if I could apply. She took my application and I was introduced to the staff. They greeted me as if I was a celebrity and encouraged me to participate in the programs and thanked me for my help. Before I left, the program assistant referred me to other great community resources.
I left PPCAA with new hope and with a new plan on how to accomplish my dreams and goals. I have always been adverse to handouts. That's what made me feel so good. The TIP program isn't a handout-it is a hand up. But every now and then, people --sometimes the people you least expect-- need a helping hand. A BIG hand.
I think about where I would be now without PPCAA's TIP program. I don't know. But I can tell you where I am now. My business cash flow is healthy; I am securities licensed, and I have wonderful friends at PPCAA that actually encourage me to stop by every now and then to have morning coffee and tell me how much they believe in me.
Because of what I have been able to accomplish with PPCAA's help, I look forward to the day that I will freeze frame a moment in my day, and look at it and say, "This my life.!”
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