This testimony is from a staff member with our Renovations program. We are so appreciative of our staff that work tirelessly for the clients they support.
I got to experience a seemingly random, unexpected, but beautiful moment today. I was called on for help today by Damion. I (like several others) have received many calls like this from Damion, but today was different. It wasn’t a “hey, I need you to do x, y, z for me” it was a “I have this problem, what direction should I take to fix it myself?” I didn’t think much of it at first but I figured I had time and I was willing to help. He had lost his ID but needed to get one to cash his paycheck so he could get groceries. Through several rounds of troubleshooting we had a new ID in hand along with some cash. We decided to go ahead and get groceries. As I watched him, it hit me, just a few years ago this seemed impossible. Just a few years ago Damion was just a kid with mental illness, thrown into placement, fighting for attention and suffering from entitlement. Just a few years ago he was getting in trouble by police in the alley behind his home. Just a few years ago, while having a broken arm, he was using the other to rip a mailbox out of the ground and swing it at staff.
Today, he was problem solving, using his brain and enjoying help. He was being picked up from HIS apartment, to cash HIS pay check, to by HIS own groceries with plans to cook dinner for himself when he got back home. I share this story to say this:
What you are doing is worthwhile. If you are discouraged right now, you are doing good work. If you have the fire, keep it burning. It wasn’t just Progressions that got Damion to this place in life. It was every staff, every Program Supervisor, every nurse, and every person that fed into him along the way. Thank you to everyone who invests in people at their worst and holds on to see their best. What you are doing matters!
