It was 6:45 p.m. when Tonya was calling the WayPoint Center in tears. The voice on the other end spoke softly in the hope of calming her down, and asked if she was in a safe place. Tonya replied that she was safe, but began to weep uncontrollably again. The WayPoint Community Impact Manager on the other end gently directed her through a grounding technique that helped her anxiety level decrease.
Tonya then explained that her mother, who she had been living with and caring for, had just died from COVID. Her mother had been hospitalized, and due to having tested positive for the virus herself, Tonya was unable to visit her. It was Tonya’s last day of quarantine, and she felt she had to get out of the house. To her dismay, she went outside to find her car with a completely flat tire, and no money to have it repaired or replaced.
WayPoint staff immediately reached out to a small group of community partners that, as a team, had agreed to be on-call for one another. However, no one was able to come up with a resource for this situation, so they asked if Tonya’s mother was a member at a local church. Tonya replied that her mother was a faithful member and gave permission for the church to be contacted on her behalf.
The church responded immediately to offer emotional support, and arranged to have two of the tires on Tonya’s car replaced that night. Later, Tonya called WayPoint to express her gratitude and shared that after her mother’s funeral, she would like to regroup, find employment, and learn how to adjust to life without her mother.
Tonya has an appointment with our WayPoint team soon to arrange assistance with employment, housing, grief counseling, food benefits, tax preparation, and more.
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