Miranda called into Catholic Charities seeking help with her gas bill. Her service had been disconnected for approximately 2 days when she reached out for assistance. Miranda had been hopeful she would be able to pay the amount needed to restore her service on her own, but could not. With four children in the home to provide for on her own, she was becoming increasingly concerned for their health and welfare. She had been working a lower paying job when she had the opportunity to start employment that paid a significantly higher wage. Miranda transitioned from one job to the other without taking any time off work. Unfortunately, because of the waiting period to start getting paid from her new job, she fell behind on all of her bills as she had already been struggling, constantly ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’. Our agency was able to utilize our Emergency Assistance funding through the United Way to assist with the gas bill and have her service restored within just a few days. While working with Catholic Charities Miranda also obtained additional information from her caseworker on applying for SNAP benefits and subsidized childcare assistance through the Stark County Department of Job & family Services.
