Single Father Finds Help and Hope

Jack is a single dad with four teenage children. He came to Mountain Resource Center (MRC), one of Mile High United Way’s Centers for Family Opportunity, because he had no job and was finding it challenging to transfer his military skills to a civilian world.

Accessing multiple services in one place through the Center for Family Opportunity has helped Jack move forward.

A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Jack suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2010 when his fleet was hit by an explosive device. He is happy to be alive and reunited with his children, but he struggles daily with the effects of his injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mountain Resource Center’s Veterans Advocate helped Jack set up a one-on-one career coaching session to re-start his job search process. In the meantime, Jack also began using the MRC food pantry each week, and received emergency assistance for his family’s rent and utilities to help stabilize his immediate crisis.

Within one week of his MRC career coaching session, Jack went on two job interviews – and received two job offers. Now Jack has stable employment and a steady income, and he continues to use Center for Family Opportunity services, meeting with an mPowered Financial Coach to set up a budget and savings plan that will help him reach his long-term financial goals.

Although Jack acknowledges that he may encounter ongoing issues related to his injuries, he has said that he feels more secure knowing that Mountain Resource Center and the Center for Family Opportunity is there to guide him through his financial challenges.

Mile High United Way Centers for Family Opportunity are designed to foster economic self-sufficiency for families by delivering multiple services from a single location.

Great things happen when we LIVE UNITED.