“IT WAS VERY HELPFUL HAVING THIS PERSON IN MY LIFE WHO HAD BEEN THERE TO HELP ME DO THE RIGHT THING.”

A Child’s Struggle. A Parent’s Struggle.

As a parent, your children are everything. Their lives become yours, and you do your best to raise them right. True, there will be bumps along the way – but what if some bumps actually grow to become mountains? Few things in life are harder than feeling helpless when it comes to your child’s needs.

Some kindergartners struggle with math or swimming lessons – my son struggled to socialize and interact with his classmates. He coped by acting out. His school coped by sending him home. Before long this became a regular occurrence. Full days were now half days. And I was at a loss as to what to do.

Learning To Help Yourself

So I called ASK (Advocacy Services for Kids). What I was looking for was help. What I got was even greater. ASK doesn’t just help you; they teach you. They teach you how to be your child’s advocate. Working with them was different, because they are real people who have kids and problems, too. It was more of an “I’ve been there, I know what you’re going through. I’ve had the same issues. Let me help you,” approach.

Armed with newfound confidence, we moved to a new school district. And this time I knew what to do, what to say, and how to present myself when dealing with getting my son the help he needed. ASK gave me the self-assurance to know what I was doing was right.

Inspired by my journey, today I work for ASK. I had gotten so much from them that I wanted to give back, so I could help families coming from where I was get to where I am now.

My name is Corrie, and I help change the story.

With the generous help of Advocacy Services for Kids of Kalamazoo, Corrie was able to change the story.

Health

We are making sure people have access to physical and mental health care, and that babies are born healthy. We work with health care providers to keep costs low and make sure services are available for those with little or no health insurance.

Income

We’re helping families become – and stay – self-sufficient by investing in programs that help them stay in their homes, through rental assistance, budgeting and financial counseling. We also help people become financially stable by supporting job training and retention programs, and through the Tax Counseling Initiative and the Emergency Food and Shelter program.