“Asha” has been in our program for about a year. She had been moving through our program and making good progress – saving money, holding down a good job, and learning to be a better parent to her three-year-old and one-year-old kids. When the COVID-19 pandemic grew serious her hours were cut significantly at work.
Asha’s daycare provider tested positive for COVID-19 so her kids are home with her all the time, even while she works a few hours from home for her job. She’s doing her best to keep up with her bills, but the decrease in income has hit her hard. Second Story is increasing our rent support for her and bringing her food and other supplies like diapers, paper towels, feminine hygiene products, and toilet paper weekly.
Asha struggles with anxiety and this situation has, expectedly, been hard on her. Our staff are not meeting in-person with youth, instead scheduling phone calls, though we get to see them about once a week to deliver supplies and we love seeing them face to face through our masks! We’ve been encouraging Asha by talking about her anxiety, processing what she can and cannot control, and reminding her of our support. We’re committed to helping her and the other youth in our programs get through this.
