Client Moments in June & July
We celebrate a lot around here, big moments and small ones. June and July gave us three we keep coming back to:
One graduate stepped in to support the woman who came behind her
One finished the program and moved out of state, taking the transformation with her
Three of our ladies had daughters walk in on their own, after recognizing transformation in their mothers.
In June, elevenbrand new women asked for help, and our team sat down for 73 one-on-one sessions with 41 unique ladies. In July, that number grew all the way to 100 one-on-one sessions, plus 63 seats filled at four gatherings.
So why did these moments stand out?
________
The graduate who stepped in finished Side-by-Side and was winding down on purpose, as is supposed to happen. She came to our July worship night anyway, because she had made a connection with a newer participant. After spending that time together, the new client had a rough day. She went straight to our graduate — the one who spent a year being the person who needed steadying — who opened her arms to hold the weeping woman. She told us it was an amazing experience, not just because somebody had done it for her, but she knew (and had experienced) the courage it took to let someone in.
The one who moved out of state also graduated the program and her final step was a far relocation, which is usually where the story ends. Instead she mailed us a card. Her three kids signed it under her name. She wrote, "When I needed it most, God brought me to where I was known, seen, and loved. 431 was a huge blessing in my life. It is an honor and a joy to be able to invest in those who are coming behind me!" And she included a financial gift. A woman who spent a year on the receiving end decided to be on the giving end of it, from four hundred miles away. Whatever she built here, she took with her, and she saw the investment that others had made in her.
The three daughters are young women who walked into 431 for the first time this summer. But the sweeter connection was that each one came because her mother came first. Nobody recruited them. Nobody handed out a flyer. They watched their mothers do hard, slow, unglamorous work for months or years, and then decided they were allowed to want it too. Their mothers never said a word to us about it. These are the slow steps we celebrate.
_________
And finally, a note on our graduates… Seven women have finished Side by Side since January, and all seven have come back — to serve, to give, or just to sit at the table again. Lasting change is rarely one dramatic moment. It is built out of hundreds of small decisions made with courage and consistency, and then it keeps going after we stop being the ones holding it up. This is because of you. Your investment had amazing returns this summer, even as some stories are just beginning!
You can give toward the next set of women through the Independence Fund. Even a special gift of $25 means a woman gets support the week she asks for it, instead of the month after.
