Tina Hennis, client services manager at TWCMany Faces of Need

Tina Hennis, client services manager at TWC, has many stories about need. “Once, we had an elderly woman come in so distressed because her dog ate her dentures,” she recalls. “Then there was the man who needed an electric wheelchair. There was a teacher laid off from a $60,000 a year job, and now was a part-time fast food restaurant worker who couldn’t make ends meet. It’s amazing the kinds of problems that pop up in our lives.”

Together We Cope exists to bridge the financial gap faced by families experiencing all manner of temporary crisis. “Everyone gets food” is the general rule, and then caseworkers go to work screening clients on their finances and finding fixes for the many problems that confront people in their lifetimes. If the fix is not immediately available at TWC’s office, staffers link up with other resources and agencies to connect a client with someone who can help as soon as possible.

On one recent day TWC helped 82 families - in just one day! Some were just picking up food, but others had more complex problems that really challenged us.”

Much of what clients receive is donated by the community. Help comes from the Scouts who run food drives, churches that collect baby clothes and diapers, parents who donate shoes and clothes their children outgrow, local businesses that collect funds from their employees and customers.

“What touches me most is when people we’ve helped, want to help back,” Tina said. “Sometimes they have so little, but they want to help someone else out.”

[Excerpted from the May 2013 TWC Newsletter]