Linda’s Story – Flenniken Landing
Linda, a Flenniken Landing resident for the past two years, is reuniting with her younger sister for the first time in nearly thirty-five years. Recently, Linda’s sister Susie wished her a happy birthday and the two begain talking and planning for a Thanksgiving reunion trip. Linda came to Flenniken after being homeless for 13 months. Flenniken gave her the stability she needed to make this family connection.
Linda has seven siblings, but was closest to Susie while growing up in Ohio. When Susie moved to California in 1983, the two lost touch. About a decade ago, Linda joined Facebook, found her sister, and has been keeping in touch ever since. For Linda’s birthday this year, she received a Facebook message stating that Susie’s husband had been planning for Linda to visit their home in Lancaster, California over the Thanksgiving holiday. What was originally scheduled to be a short visit quickly turned into a three week trip.
While Linda is scared about her first “big plane ride” she is excited to connect with family. She has spent the past few weeks making sure she knows all the ins and outs of traveling by air. Linda’s dad used to fly Cecina planes when she was young and she grew up traveling around the United States. She loves to travel, but has not been able to in years.
When Susie let her know she would be traveling to California by airplane, Linda’s first response was a big, “NO.” However, the flight is the only aspect of the trip that frightens her. On a scale of one to ten (ten being the most excited she has ever been) Linda is “off the charts”. She is thrilled to visit California, but her main goal for this trip is to get to know Susie again.
The struggle with homelessness is often fraught with trauma, chaos, and loss of social support. As chronically homeless individuals move into Flenniken Landing, one of our primary goals is to quickly stabilize their existence through an environment of safety and support. As stability is established, we have found that our residents rather naturally rebuild healthy relationships and gravitate toward health. We are proud of Linda and hope she has safe travels to California then back home to Flenniken.
Flenniken Landing houses 48 individuals who now call Flenniken home, 27 whom have lived at our facility for over two years. For more information about the programs of Flenniken Landing, contact Chris Smith at csmith@klf.org.
Big Brothers, Big Sisters
At 15 years, Joe found himself facing a battle. His single mother became ill and had to spend several weeks in the hospital to recover from an emergency surgery. During her absence from home, Joe found himself struggling to get by on his own. Joe’s mother would have liked for him to receive assistance and care, but found it extremely difficult to get Joe the help he needed while she recovered due to her financial restraints and lack of a support group. Luckily, Joe was a Little Brother of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of East Tennessee (BBBS).
Joe’s Big Brother of BBBS, Jim, regularly checked in with his Little Brother. When Jim discovered that Joe was living alone, without substantial food or much support. Jim notified the Support Specialist, Traci, of BBBS, who immediately provided community resources to assist Joe. She also contacted the school to alert them of Joe’s unique situation. Meanwhile, Jim helped coordinate food delivery for Joe and assured his sense of safety at home.
When the mother was able to come home from the hospital, she was so grateful to Jim and the BBBS staff for the additional care and concern they showed for her son. She stated, “It really made the difference in him feeling safe at home and her being able to concentrate on getting better instead of worrying about her son.”
Big Brothers, Big Sisters of East Tennessee is always seeking mentors that want to make an impact in the One to One Mentoring program. A donation to United Way of Greater Knoxville helps kids like Joe and mentors like Jim by providing training materials, background checks, and supplies for mentor activities.
United Way of Greater Knoxville is proud to fund programs like the One to One Mentoring that help youth in Greater Knoxville. Together, we fight for the Health, Education, and Financial Stability of every person in our community. Change doesn’t happen alone. To live better, we must LIVE UNITED.
Volunteer Ministry Center
Struggling with mental illness, Ed had been homeless for over 20 years. He wandered the streets in search of food and slept in doorways of abandoned buildings. Through tireless and compassionate outreach efforts of a Volunteer Ministry Center (VMC) case manager, Ed’s life began to change.
The VMC case manager helped Ed gain access to programs like Minvilla Manor. Minvilla Manor is a United Way funded program that offers a permanent housing opportunity for single residents that are experiencing homelessness. It provides a moderate supportive environment to former chronically homeless individuals. These supportive services are “in-house” which provides assistance and empowerment to every resident with the objectives of long term tenancy and securing a healthy lifestyles. With help from his case manager and VMC, Ed soon began to develop trust and accept help. Soon, Ed was able to secure housing at Minvilla Manor and no longer had to worry about where he would spend each night.
After securing housing, Ed’s case manager helped Ed adapt to a healthier lifestyle. In order to establish meaningful relationships for Ed, his case manager introduced him to a group through Compassion Coalition Circles of Support. He began to thrive socially. He attended events and activities with his group, became of the Circle’s Church, and was considered a true friend until his death of natural causes in 2016. A member of his circle of support mentioned that he was very fortunate to be a part of the welfare of Ed.
United Way of Greater Knoxville is proud to support programs like Minvilla Manor that help people like Ed. Together, we fight for the Health, Education, and Financial Stability of every person in our community. Change doesn’t happen alone. To live better, we must LIVE UNITED.
Peninsula, A Division of Parkwest
Donna is a young lady who came to treatment at Peninsula several years ago. She has an MBA and was working at Oak Ridge involved in research when she started experiencing the symptoms of mental illness. Due to the symptoms interfering with her daily life, she ended up quitting her job. Donna visited the Peninsula Outpatient Center and received treament the Intensive Outpatient Program. It is the largest of the outpatient treatment centers in Knoxville. The campus, also referred to as Peninsula Lighthouse, offers a variety of psychiatric programs for children, adolescents and adults.
She completed the Intensive Outpatient Program, continued in the psych rehabilitation program, and started applying what she was learning in her daily life. Donna landed a job working at Auto Zone and has continued to manage her symptoms through medication and wellness tools.
Peninsula’s Intensive Outpatient Programs are five-day per-week programs that provides a more individualized level of care than traditional outpatient sessions. Peninsula offers both Adult and Adolescent Intensive Outpatient Programs. Each treatment day is three to four hours in duration and provides group therapy and educational sessions. Donating $1.50 – $90.31 will help provide insurance co-pay for clients’ medication.
Donna was very excited about the opportunity to tell her story and to say ‘Thank you’ to United Way and Peninsula for helping her.
United Way of Greater Knoxville is proud to support programs like the Intensive Outpatient Program that help people in Greater Knoxville. Together, we fight for the Health, Education, and Financial Stability of every person in our community. Change doesn’t happen alone. To live better, we must LIVE UNITED.