Celebrating New Beginnings: Anastasi's Inspiring Journey
Anastasi is a smart, sweet, hard-working single mom to her 8-year-old son. Fleeing from Ukraine's war, Anastasi found herself in Hamilton County with nothing.
Anastasi started with nothing. That’s for sure. But she quickly got to work. A committed support community and a lot of hard work transformed a dire situation into a beautiful new beginning.
Anastasi first got connected to Grace Care Center for food through the Choice Food Pantry, then connected with her “coaches.” Volunteer advocates John, Nancy, and Brent met with Anastasi regularly in Referral Services' co-op program for a year.
Did you know that United Way data says 73% of households led by single women — like Anastasi’s — are in poverty or one emergency away from falling into poverty? That’s not a national statistic. That’s right here in our community. Right here in Central Indiana.
Hundreds of moms visit the Grace Care Center to help meet their families’ needs each week. So many strong, inspiring, dedicated, and hard-working families are welcomed into community and supported when they need it most.
Anastasi first came for food, then chose to go deeper through the programs offered through Grace Care Center’s Referral Services program. She just celebrated graduating from the program!
Anastasi said, "Coming here, my life turned upside down -- in a good way. The Grace Care Center and the program helped us get on our feet, find friends, to get really important interactions with people who helped me find a job...to find a car. The co-op time really helped me find my way and understand my finances better and find some solutions for my emotional health.”
She continued, “So I think I'm ready to graduate because I don't have a need for food anymore; I don't need any help understanding finances because I'm doing really well."
Her coach, Nancy, was standing nearby and just chuckled and said, "We know that!" Nancy shared that she was impressed by her determination and grit to make a better way for herself and her son. Anastasi is now a teacher's aide in a local school district and is planning to continue her education to get her teaching license.
❤️ And...the sweetest part, her son and his pal were there playing with some action figures they brought along with them. They told me they wanted to leave them there for other kids to play with in that room so they had something fun to do while their parents had meetings because they no longer needed to come back.
Do you see an inspiring mom in your life? You can honor her today with a gift to Grace Care Center Foundation. She’ll receive a note immediately to know you were thinking of her! Share some joy today!
