 |
||
 |
||
|
||
| Who We Help |
||
|
||
| How You Can Help | ||
|
||
| Workshops | ||
|
||
| About Us | ||
|
||
| Contact | ||
|
||
| Find A Job | ||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
||
 |
| Did You Know... | |||||
|
Read about our success stories by scrolling down or selecting a person from this list:
A year later, though gainfully employed, Kim looked in the mirror and did not like the woman she saw: an overweight smoker with dental problems so severe that she could not laugh or smile without fearing that people would stare at her teeth. Wanting to be a positive role model for her daughter, Kim lost over 60 pounds and quit smoking. Her teeth, however, were a problem that willpower could not solve. Through Fresh Start, Kim was accepted into the Smiles 4 Success program, a non-profit collaboration of Valley dentists that provides free dental work to women who need it, and received 15 veneers, 3 crowns, 3 fillings, 1 implant, 4 root canals, a bleaching and cleaning work valued at over $33,000. Kim now volunteers as the Recipient Liaison for Smiles 4 Success and has devoted many hours to promote the program. Today Kim is working on furthering her career. She recently accepted a new position that will pay her nearly double her current salary and offers medical and dental insurance for her and her daughter. But the biggest lesson learned through her experiences with Fresh Start is that she IS worth more. She IS worth a job that pays well; she IS worth the goals and dreams she longs for, and she IS worth taking care of. She realizes now that to be the best mother she can be means she must take care of herself first, and she is working hard to do so.
Now, after a year, she has gained the courage to stand up to the children’s father concerning visitation, and she has found her voice at work. She is making safer, healthier choices as she ventures out into the dating world, and she is a mom who listens to her children and helps them to see the difference between healthy and abusive relationships. Her children, too, are changing. “I have three children in the Creating Healthy Family Relationships program,” she said. “A 12-year-old who is becoming a nice young man again, a 10-year-old who is responding with self-empowerment, and an 8-year-old who is learning about his emotions. [Thanks to Creating Health Family Relationships], I recognize more about who is doing what around me and how it really affects me and my kids.”
Her plight continued, in 2001 Laura had a brain aneurysm. She could no longer speak and was in a wheelchair and unemployed for over two months. As she recovered, Laura’s family suggested she do something for herself, so she came to Fresh Start and attended one of the workshops. Shortly after, she joined the Fresh Start mentoring program, and there she found a community of support. She went back to college and now has a scholarship. Her goal is to show her kids that she can become a doctor in the United States as she was in Mexico. All Laura needed were the tools to help herself. That’s what thousands more women will find at the Jewell McFarland Lewis - Fresh Start Women’s Resource Center. At the Center women have access to the resources that can improve their lives. In Laura’s words, “Fresh Start makes all women feel important. Because of them, I have hope and confidence. The people at Fresh Start are earth angels. They work from the heart.”
Then she found Fresh Start, an organization she describes as “heaven sent.” With the support of her first Fresh Start mentor, Christy, Donna found the courage to leave her marriage and file for divorce. During that time, she and her children lived with Donna’s parents. One of her first goals in the mentoring program was home ownership, a goal that she reached in the summer of 2005. Another crucial goal in the beginning was to “heal some of the hurt” she and her children were feeling, and she is grateful that her family has now been able to work through much of the pain and anger that built up during those difficult years. Today Donna wants to pursue a graduate degree and to identify a career that will let her incorporate her interest in single motherhood and fatherless children. Her current Fresh Start mentor, Sarah, is helping her determine what her calling is and what she needs to do to make her calling her career. There is no doubt that Donna will continue to grow and learn. In fact, she is unstoppable!
Cindy’s mentor helped her to focus on the blessings in her life, rather than the struggles. She has learned to accept the journey that she travels; as a woman, a mother and working professional. She embraces the opportunity to keep reinventing herself. Her mentor has helped her to see every option that is in front of her, and not take any of them for granted.
When Edna joined the mentoring program, she had just won a Nina Mason Pulliam scholarship to pursue her Associates degree at Phoenix College. But she was a single mother and unsure of how she was going to juggle motherhood and college. Her first mentor, Kim, was kind and loving, and Edna was able to build a trusting relationship with her where she could say anything, a deeper and more meaningful relationship than she had ever had outside of her family. Because of her mentor’s support, Edna gained faith in herself and her ability to reach her goals. But Kim moved away, and as Edna waited for a new mentor, she married and soon became pregnant. In the face of these dramatic life changes, Edna found it harder and harder to focus on school, but her next mentor, Heather, became her rock. Edna returned to classes three weeks after her second daughter was born, and with Heather’s encouragement, she managed to stay in school, receiving her degree in May 2005. With Heather’s help, Edna applied to ASU and is now working on her bachelor’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis in Spanish and a minor in music education. Edna feels that she is now ready to give something back to the program that gave so much to her – and is ready to become a mentor herself. Overall, she feels that her experience as a mentee has helped her learn who she is, and she now really likes and respects herself. With self-knowledge and self-esteem like Edna’s – and like so many graduates of our mentoring program – the future is unlimited!
Before coming to the Center, Mindy had already found the courage and strength to leave her abusive marriage. As a stay-at-home mother of four, however, she knew she needed additional help to get her life, and her children’s, on track. She joined Fresh Start’s mentoring program in 2003, went back to school, and will receive her Master’s in Education from NAU in December 2005. For Mindy, a mentor has been the key in motivating her to accomplish her goals. “My mentor held me accountable, provided me with support and guidance, and encouraged me,” Mindy says. “All I saw was this big huge mountain and I had no energy, but she helped me to see the steps I needed to take in order to get over that mountain.” Although Mindy still has many obstacles to overcome, she feels she is well on her way to rebuilding her whole self, not just her living situation. She hopes that women who hear this small piece of her story will truly feel that there is hope for a Fresh Start.
She was encouraged to network with other professionals through Fresh Start programs. Aysha was so inspired by each of the women she met, that she began to really look at her own skills, attributes and passions. In the end, Aysha received numerous job offers that she was able to turn down. She has pursued her own interests, has written a career guide, obtained her life coaching certification and has started her own business. Aysha truly has been given a new perspective on life and she credits it to Fresh Start. |
Surprising Facts 46% of all women we see have some college, are college educated or have post-graduate degrees. Fresh Start’s clients come from Gila Bend to Cave Creek and from Buckeye/Surprise to Apache Junction. Fresh Start is accommodating more than 2,500 visits a month. Fresh Start sees 500 brand new women every 30-days.
Clients Rate The Women's Resource Center Highly 99% are satisfied or very satisfied with the services we provide. 100% agree they would use the services again. 99% agree they would refer a friend or relative. 100% agree they have received the tools to improve their lives |
||||
September 11, 2001 changed many lives in many ways. For Kim, the change was economic: she lost her job when her company merged and downsized. A single mother, Kim urgently needed to work, and she came to our Women’s Resource Center for help with her job search and resume. With the encouragement and emotional support of her Fresh Start mentor, she soon found a job.
When Jen learned that her husband had choked one of their sons while she was at work, she took her four children and left. A few weeks later she heard about Fresh Start, and she and her children began attending the Creating Healthy Family Relationships workshops at the Women’s Resource Center. As time went on, she began to take advantage of other services offered at Fresh Start: self-esteem workshops, mentoring, and more. She did all that she could to feel empowered, supported and strong enough to stay away from her abuser.
Laura, a physician in her native Mexico, came to the United States for what she thought was just a vacation. While she was here, however, she fell in love, then got married and had two sons. Eight years later, when she was pregnant with her daughter, she could no longer take her husband’s emotional abuse and left her marriage. She also left behind her home, car, money, and her job in a county clinic. She became a single mom who had to work very hard to support her children.
Donna never thought it could happen to her. An abusive marriage. Two job losses in a year. Young children at home and bills that needed to be paid.
Cindy found herself a single parent, with two small children, who was not prepared to handle everything on her own. Her self confidence was shaken and she was not sure what direction she needed to head. How in the world could she possibly do this alone? Through friends, Cindy learned of Fresh Start and attended some workshops and utilized the legal services. She then joined the mentoring program looking for some positive influence. She found this and so much more. The mentoring program was very beneficial to her during her extremely trying and long divorce process.
Edna’s dream is to teach elementary school, and thanks to two Fresh Start mentors, that dream has stayed alive despite many life changes.
Mindy seemed destined to join the Fresh Start family of women wanting to help themselves. She was told about our Women’s Resource Center not once, but twice – first by a friend in a support group and then by a financial consultant who would go on to become her mentor.
Aysha left her friends and a great job in Illinois to move to Phoenix with her husband so he could pursue his educational goals. She was feeling disconnected and depressed about being in a new city. She found Fresh Start, attended some workshops, and joined the Mentoring Program. Once paired with her Mentor, Aysha set personal and professional goals and began to work on them immediately. She wanted to choose a new career path.