Giving Tuesday | Moving Forward, Changing Lives
From desperation and doubt, to opportunity and hope.
If you've ever used Just.Wash, you know how positive, energetic, and dependable our Just.Wash Coordinator, Tyrone, is. He's got a smile on his face and motivation to share, ready to do his best work for our customers.
Earlier this year, Tyrone and his wife found themselves in a very hard place. Like many of our team members, they live paycheck to paycheck and got behind on their rent. Ownership at their apartment complex changed in August and the new management gave them three days to pay back rent or be evicted. They sold what they could to try to make up the difference and secured a storage unit to prepare for the worst.
But despite the money from pawning personal possessions and the payment arrangements Tyrone had in place with the previous management, he found himself sleeping in his car in the parking lot of his storage unit.
Tyrone kept showing up for work, week after week, without any of us knowing what had happened. He still had a smile on his face, but it was weary and thin, hiding a heavy burden.
Thankfully, Justice Industries is in a place to help! Our Employee Emergency Fund exists for this reason. One thing we’ve seen time and again is that our team members live on the margins. Not only the margins of opinion because of some of their barriers to employment, but they literally have no financial margins.
One injury, one illness, one missed paycheck, one bad decision carries consequences those of us off the edges often can’t understand.
Sure, we encourage savings and good financial decision making, but how do you save what you don’t have? If you were faced with eviction, would you seek a payday loan? Use your car for collateral for a cash advance? That predatory lending keeps them stuck in a cycle we’re trying hard to break.
Thankfully, Tyrone’s story has a happy ending. We were able to help him and his wife get out of the car temporarily, and even helped them find permanent housing. Through partners like Faith Family Medical Clinic, we were also able to help Tyrone get some valuable mental health support.
If you ask Tyrone what this has meant he’ll tell you:
“It’s all about how you keep moving forward. I’m so grateful for the opportunities Justice Industries has given to me and the support I’ve found here so I can keep moving forward.”
Your gift changes lives.
As you plan out your year-end giving, we ask that you consider supporting the Justice Industries Employee Emergency Fund. With you, we can help our employees continue moving forward.