By Dela Esqueda, Executive Director for Guadalupe-Parkway Neighborhood Centers
In our industry, we have a plethora of opportunities to be the “hand up” to a community in need. These opportunities sometimes come without prior notice. Recently, the Centers had one of these opportunities to be the light in the tunnel to a family in need.
Our encounter with this family came through a phone call from Victory Outreach. The church had met a mother and her two children escaping a volatile environment in another city. They came to Lubbock with basically just the clothes on their backs and the car they escaped in. Now, the baby had an ear infection and they just didn’t know where to start looking for help.
Feeling helpless, the mother turned to Victory Outreach who then contacted us for help. When families come to us looking for resources, we immediately think of our United Way partners -- twenty-three agencies ready to assist, usually at the drop of a hat. I called my good friends at the Lubbock Children’s Health Clinic and they received the family with open arms.
It’s always good to be received with open arms especially in the middle of struggle when hope seems so far away. The clinic did not disappoint. They provided the medical attention the child needed and offered to assist the family with filling out a Medicaid application.
The Lubbock Area United Way is the organization that binds us all to each other to assist families in all situations. We stand hand-in-hand to meet the needs of our community. We are proud to be part of that circle of organizations joined together with one common goal, and that’s to make this world and the South Plains a better place.