UNITED WAY OF SOUTH WOOD & ADAMS COUNTIES SUCCESS STORIES FOR 2024
These stories have been provided to us by the 2024 United Way of South Wood & Adams Counties Partner Programs. Names have been changed to preserve the identities of the subjects. Please feel free to use these stories for any promotional pieces you may have, such as newsletters, emails, payroll stuffers, etc.
ADAMS COUNTY
Adams-Friendship Area School District – Community Learning Center (CLC)
This year's success story is one of our 2nd grade students had struggled most of her life socializing with her peers and adults. She is autistic and really only interacted with those closest to her like family. She really has bloomed this year and now seeks out to say hi to adults and asking students to play with her. This is huge since her disability really impacted her socially in the past. I believe her attending the program and the staff have helped her grow.
Central Wisconsin Community Action Council, Inc. – Crisis Rental Assistance
A single mother contacted Central Wisconsin Community Action Council (CWCAC) and requested assistance with housing. She presented with very low income, children, and explained that can qualify for housing; however, it would be extremely difficult to maintain the home with such low income. She wanted stability for herself, and moreover, she was determined provide a safe and stable home for her children. She expressed that her situation was further complicated as she recently returned to the community after successfully completing a 120-day drug treatment service. She was experiencing the discipline required in AODA recovery, while working on overcoming the hardship of homelessness. With her permission, a CWCAC Case Manager administered a barriers-related assessment tool to determine whether she qualified for homeless-related programs. Also, the Case Manager provided active listening, empathy, problem solving, and homeless-related services. Funding through United Way of Woods County provided a temporary hotel voucher to begin stabilizing her family's homeless situation. Then, CWCAC was able to leverage other program resources and case conference with community partners to assist this family. The Case Manager learned from the barriers assessment that her family qualified for other homeless-related programs. With this, her family was placed on a homeless priority list. The Case Manager was available to provide basic needs resources to this family as needed (food, clothing, and more). After a few weeks, the family was accepted into a long-term housing program that offered Tenant Based Rental Assistance (TBRA) for up to one year. This client demonstrates that with extensive barriers and challenges, resilience happens with support of services offered by the United Way of South Wood & Adams County and its partner agencies, such as CWCAC..
Central Wisconsin Community Action Council, Inc. – Food Pantry
The second half of 2023 included both Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Many customers visting Adams Food Panty expressed sincere thanks to the pantry staff for their helpfulness, the selection of nutritious food, and the blessing of having the Adams Food Pantry available to help them.
Faith In Action Adams County – Transportation Today
What we consider success, is being able to drive over 20,000 miles on behalf of those in need. We have one volunteer that drove almost 4,000 alone. Another volunteer drove approximately 2,600 miles in 2023. Without the support of the United Way Transportation Grant and being able to gift gas cards to our volunteers, we wouldn’t able to provide the transportation that we do. We are so thankful.
Faith In Action Adams County – Volunteer Coordination
Joe was doing a wonderful job being his wife, Cathy’s, care giver while also taking care of their beautiful home. The commitment was tall but Joe was up for it until his health took a downward turn. After receiving some medical intervention, Joe’s prognosis was good but his journey back to being strong would take some time. Since family resides too far away to help on a daily basis, Cathy contacted Faith in Action for help. As luck would have it, our volunteer Sandy was available and was up for the task. Living just a few blocks away was definitely and huge benefit for all.During our assessment, we found out there were pretty big shoes to fill. Our volunteer would be tasked with light housekeeping, managing garbage which includes taking it to the local dump, watering the plants and boy they have plants, laundry, getting the mail and picking up and delivering the groceries. As the days and weeks went past, Sandy became fond of her new friends and neighbors and they of her. Joe and Cathy looked forward to not just the help from Sandy’s visits but they looked forward to the companionship of their new friend. After a few months, Joe’s health was really improving but sadly Cathy’s was deteriorating. Cathy passed away shortly after Christmas. We continue to help Joe with chores but more importantly he still has Sandy for his companion and his friend not just a volunteer. Joe’s not sure if he will remain in his home or relocate to live with family but until he decides he knows he can count on Sandy and Faith in Action to be there for him.
Girl Scouts of the Northwestern Great Lakes – Adams County
Girl Scouts in Adams County created a flower to display both their similarities and what made each of them unique! Each petal was created by an individual who shared the traits that made them unique- and in the center were the entire group’s commonalities. In this healthy relationships curriculum, Adams County Girl Scouts were able to honor their differences and come together as a group.
Samoset Council Boy Scouts – Adams County
The Cub Scout Pack in Adams Friendship is continuing to attract more female youth participants. 2023 is the first year that there are more girls registered in the Cub Pack than boys at about a 53% of the pack's membership. Increasing our female youth participants has been a strategic plan goal of Samoset Scouting since females became first eligible to join Cub Scouts in 2017.
South Wood County YMCA - Membership for All, Adams County
Lisa, who is a mom of 5, joined the Adams Y back in September of 2021. She is a single mom who uses the facility as a way to stay active, socialize with others, and work out some of her frustrations from being a single mom. She's grateful that we're able to scholarship her membership so that she can afford it not only for herself, but her kids as well. As Lisa mentioned, there aren't any other gyms that will discount a monthly fee by 70%... or even 10%, so having a YMCA in town has been a blessing.