Reba is a licensed aesthetician who had to close her business due to COVID.

She was living as a caretaker with an elderly gentleman in exchange for room and board. He recently went to assisted living and signed his mobile home over to her. She now owns the mobile home, but still has to pay lot rent for the mobile home park. Also, it is an old home and has a lot of repairs needed.

When Reba looked at her situation, all she saw were problems. She didn’t know where to turn.

Reba had started attending Tri County Baptist Church, where the Journey In the Name of Christ (Journey INC) program is hosted. She heard about the classes, and one Tuesday night she showed up for class. She has been attending ever since.

As the Journey INC Coordinators and volunteers learned more about Reba, they learned she is in the process of applying for disability. This process often takes years and during that time she can’t work.  She needed some help in the meantime, and they realized she would benefit from working with the Clearinghouse. Reba called Love INC and spoke to an Intake Volunteer. The volunteer listened to her story with compassion and prayed with her. The intention is that Reba would feel the love of Christ right away. Once she was through the verification process Reba was able to connect with the Gap Ministries.

Reba visited the Personal Care Ministry at Faith Presbyterian Church in June. Next she visited Angel’s Touch at Lady Lake United Methodist Church in July. Lastly she was referred to the Handyman Ministry at North Lake Presbyterian Church to get the repairs done to her house.

Because of generous donations, the Handyman Ministry was able to do a lot of minor repairs around her house. This included repairing her tub and a hole in the wall, and installing a new toilet seat. They also did some more intense repairs. They replaced the subfloor near the back door.

Reba had one more need – a microwave. The Furniture and Appliance Ministry was able to provide a microwave for her.

Reba is set to graduate from Affirming Potential at the end of September and if she continues to attend the program, she will enroll in the Boundaries course next. There are two other courses in the program, each geared toward helping Reba overcome past hurts and barriers to growth. It is a great delight to watch Reba – and others like her – pay off debt and overcome obstacles.