Yolanda Robinson needed a break, just enough money to pay for the feeding bags her son needs while she navigates an insurance appeal.
Robinson, a single mother, is working. It’s hard to make ends meet, but she usually succeeds while caring for 9-year-old Jeremiah Price, who is severely autistic and has an extreme aversion to eating.
“He weighs 50 pounds,” Robinson says. “Before we started him with the feeding bags, he weighed 37.”
Alyssa Tiberi, a nurse care manager at Nemours Children’s Health, connected Jeremiah and his mom with a lifeline, Good Friends of the First State. The all-female volunteer group is devoted to improving lives through financial stability. That translates to providing one-time infusions of support to women and girls who are hard-pressed to meet critical expenses like car repairs, rent payments, and medical bills.
“There are so many unexpected challenges that can be thrown at you. The women we are serving are pretty much living month to month, and when a medical bill or a car repair pops up, there’s tremendous upheaval,” says Sabrina du Pont-Langenegger, founder of the group.
Good Friends paid for a six-month supplyof feeding bags and replaced the broken chair used by Jeremiah’s night nurse with a new recliner. Tiberi says Good Friends is making a transformative difference in the lives of women who don’t have a safety net.
“We have a mom who can now go to work and drive her son to his asthma appointments because Good Friends provided the down payment for a car,” she says.
The group caps support at $1,500 per individual. Payments are made directly to landlords, auto repair shops, and other providers. Women and girls who meet Good Friends’ requirements are served on first-come, first-served basis.
Here’s how it works. A licensed health care provider, social worker, or case manager submits a request on behalf of a woman who has an urgent financial need. The professionals also are responsible for getting two bids on items such as furniture and documenting expenses such as rent and utilities.
“The professionals understand the women’s situations and vet them so they meet our criteria. We want to give people a hand up rather than a handout,” du Pont-Langenegger says.
Since May, Good Friends has distributed $46,000 to 37 beneficiaries. Tony Sierzega, senior attorney for the Community Legal Aid Society’s housing unit, says the group is filling a vast void in Delaware’s support system. Good Friends also is unique in that it responds quickly, sometimes delivering a check within 24 hours of approving a request.
“The speed from Good Friends is so crucial. When I reached out to help a client with rent, the response was fast enough to stop an eviction,” Sierzega says. “We are talking about a woman who was going to lose her home because she was out of work for two weeks. All she needed was help with one month’s rent to get back on track.”
Kim Blair, a guidance counselor at Howard High School of Technology in Wilmington, worked with the school nurse to document a request to help a ninth grader who was earning straight As despite multiple tragedies in her family.
“Her dad died and her brother was murdered. They lived in her grandfather’s house until it burned down and then they were homeless,” she says.
The student lived in motels with her mother and sister while they waited on a housing voucher. Because Good Friends was willing to help, they were able to negotiate with a landlord who allowed them to move in for the first month’s rent of $1,500.
“I love Good Friends’ philosophy. If they can financially help a woman just one time, they can prevent her from going down that slippery slope,” Blair says.
Laquashia Bines, a nurse at Children and Families First’s Georgetown office, works with first-time moms. She reached out to Good Friends to help a young mother in Harrington who was starting a new job and sleeping on friends’ couches while she awaited approval from a federal program that helps pay for child care.
Good Friends covered four weeks of day care, enabling the mother to save enough money to rent a home in Millsboro with her sister.
“The money came in days. Not weeks, not months,” Bines says. “Good Friends is a godsend for the mom who can’t pay the rent because she spent the money on a car repair so she can go to work.”
Good Friends is supported by businesses and individuals with a heart to help. The group also holds an annual fundraising luncheon.
“Our goal is to help put women and girls on the path to a better future,” du Pont-Langenegger says.
For more information, visit goodfriendsofthefirststate.org.
Related: Inside the Rise in Children’s Mental Health Issues in Delaware
