Noelle

Noelle is a single mother living in Illinois. Throughout the program she experiences numerous setbacks – losing her job, her car needing expensive repairs, and a predatory lender situation – that make it hard for her to get ahead. Then two years into the program, Noelle starts experiencing serious medical symptoms. Her fingers went numb, then her feet, and eventually she lost the ability to walk. When she goes to the doctor they tell her they found spinal lesions. She had been working as a bartender but after this medical event was unable to work for four months. During this time, the $1,000 was the only thing keeping her afloat. 

The money provided her with a “cushion” to go to physical therapy and recover to the point where at the end of the program she’s able to work full-time again. “I would say I'm always making ends meet now. I'm never not because I'm working more and I'm feeling more, stable and confident.”

“I'm living under a good roof, you know, with my son, he's taken care of. I have a good job. I have my vehicle and everything, so right now, thankfully things are going in an upward direction.”