PROGRAMS
GET INVOLVED
SITE SEARCH |
|
provided by google
|
|
WINGS Students Soar In Washington
Tacoma, Washington's gray skies don't reflect a few of its' resident's feelings who graduated from recent WINGS Life Skills Training classes. With the help of trainers like Annmarie Huppert, approximately seventy people feel like they are on top of Mount St. Helen by having successfully completed the 40-hour class over the last two and a half years! Here are a couple of their stories...
Determined not to take welfare checks, Jo worked the graveyard shift in a local grocery store bakery. After getting off work, this single mom would get her two children ready for school, sleep for a few hours and then spend time with them in the late afternoon before leaving again. In her mid twenties, Jo knew she was capable of doing something more, but didn't know how to grab a hold of it. After hearing about the WINGS class at the Lakewood Family YMCA, she signed up and spent an intense week of learning by day and working at night. Now enrolled fulltime at the community college, Jo is working toward providing a better future for both her and the children.
"John" had worked hard to raise his family. In his mid fifties, this gentleman held a secret keeping him from getting ahead and even trying to accomplish a dream of being a truck driver. Only John's wife knew he had never learned how to read or write. This didn't stop him from taking the WINGS class last November. Annmarie's suspicions were confirmed when John told her on the third day of class. He quickly was partnered with a coach who would teach him how to read and write. Soon John will be filling in the answers himself on the truck driving test!
"I love the WINGS program so much because we get such a cross section of people," exclaimed Annmarie! In last September's class there was a recent high school graduate and an 82-year-old retired teacher both searching for the next step to take. A graduating class of fifteen is average, but she does have twenty-one signed up for June's class. Future plans include beginning a WINGS youth program, but she'll need more than her regular three to twelve volunteers to accomplish this.
A little over a year has passed since Annmarie began as WINGS Director for Covenant Celebration Church. For two years before taking the job as director, she came to WINGS as a regular guest speaker. Coming from a background of childhood sexual abuse, spousal abuse, and single parenthood, Annmarie can relate with many of the current WINGS students on a personal level. After going through a similar program like WINGS, Annmarie picked herself up, began paralegal training, and eventually began handling domestic and child abuse cases. "It's amazing how my life has come full circle; what a remarkable transformation," she comments.
That's when one of the attorney's asked her to come and encourage some WINGS students. "I would stand in my 3-piece suit and say, ' If I can do it, you guys can do it,'"she said. Now married, Annmarie not only is a mother to a 13-year-old son and works with WINGS, but also teaches part time at the community college.
People's lives can begin to soar skyward with your gift!
Please help OBI in our quest to help those in need worldwide...
|
]