“Everything was at risk.”

Angelica Hatchew was having trouble making ends meet while she was on early maternity leave for health reasons from her job at Lyons Industries in Dowagiac. Five months pregnant and with two other children, she was afraid of losing her home. “Everything was at risk,” Angelica says. 

“I was at the bottom of the bottom. Not to mention being pregnant comes with its own emotions,” she says. “I felt like a tornado and a hurricane mixed together. I felt like nothing was ever going to work out because I had these two big kids that needed to eat and a place to sleep.”

“As a mother, no matter what, you know that you’re gonna do all that you can for your kids,” she says, but she knew she couldn’t do it alone. She needed someone to be her rock and reassure her that she could make it.

That’s when she met Nancy Miller, a success coach at The LINK, a program at United Way-funded partner Kinexus. “She was my backbone,” Angelica says.

Turn the corner

Kinexus is a Benton Harbor-based nonprofit that develops solutions to economic challenges. Its services benefit the region with three key outcomes: thriving businesses, competitive workforce talent, and clean safe neighborhoods. The group says it is committed to inspiring positive economic change one person, one business, one community at a time. Kinexus created a business resource network called The LINK and recruited Nancy from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

“Angelica and I started working on figuring out what it was going to take for her to get by until she could come back to work,” Nancy says. She counseled Angelica, evaluated her situation and informed her of her options. She helped Angelica connect to disability assistance and utility bill extensions. She directed her to mobile food pantries and ways to get her kids school clothes. After Angelica’s son was born, Nancy saw to it that the newborn received medical insurance.

“Now Nancy is assisting my family with day care needs, so I can continue to be a productive employee,” Angelica says. “She helped me through it all because she was right behind me. You did a good job, Nancy—I love you so much.”

Learn more about the work United Way of Southwest Michigan is doing in INCOME at uwsm.org/income.

Angelica Hatchew, a beneficiary of Kinexus - The LINK, with her success coach Nancy Miller. “She was my backbone,” Angelica says. Listen to Angelica tell her own story.

Teen girls find inner strength in overflowing support

Difficult home lives, emotional pain, feelings of abandonment, and the need for healthy relationships have created strong bonds among a group of girls at Watervliet High School.

One of the girls, Katlynn, was grappling with her parents’ divorce, and her grades were dropping. “It was hard because I didn’t live with my mom at the time and I lived with my dad, and my dad wasn’t really part of everything I did in school because he was so focused on the newborn he just had. So I was really, really struggling,” she says. But Club H2O changed all that.

Brimming prospects

Club H2O, a United Way-funded program, is a professionally led, therapeutic support group for adolescent girls, ages 13-18, that seeks to increase self-awareness and self-esteem, teach them how to set and maintain healthy boundaries, and learn healthy coping strategies to weather the storms of life.

It is one of many programs by Well of GRACE Ministries, based in Stevensville, designed to educate and encourage girls and women to live life with potential, purpose, and possibilities. The name was inspired by the story of the Samaritan woman who met Jesus at the well and received grace.

Soon after Katlynn joined Club H2O, she says “my grades starting going up because I was able to talk to someone when I needed it. They teach you coping skills for when I have depression or anxiety or anything like that.”

Saturating help

What’s more, the girls look out for each other. When Katlynn received a text message from another Club H2O member that talked about suicide ideation, she immediately shared it with the Club H2O group leader, Mary Andres, who connected with the teen in crisis, worked with the school’s guidance staff, created an emergency plan, and made sure the teen received appropriate services. Her network of support helped save her life.  

Andres says of Katlynn now: “She has this great love of life after going through a dark time. We were there for her to help her transition from middle to high school.” 

“You don’t have to do this alone,” says Andres. Club H2O is empowering Katlynn and her friends to become thriving, happy young women with bright futures.

Learn more about the work United Way of Southwest Michigan is doing in Education at uwsm.org/education.

Soon after Katlynn joined Club H2O, she says “my grades starting going up because I was able to talk to someone when I needed it. They teach you coping skills for when I have depression or anxiety or anything like that.” Listen to Katlynn tell her own story.

On-the-go service stops hunger in tracks

Arlene, 77, lives a happy, active life, surrounded by loved ones, in Cassopolis. Her large family is close-knit and near-by. She and her friends spend most of their time at the Chain Lake Baptist Church, a 180-year-old historic church that was part of the Underground Railroad. The gospel choir, of which Arlene is president, performs at other churches in the area, and so she is well-known throughout the community.

But Arlene is one of many struggling with food insecurity in Cass County.

Seniors are especially vulnerable to food insecurity—even a former professional like Arlene, who studied nursing at the University of Chicago and worked in a VA hospital. In the service area of Feeding America West Michigan, a United Way-funded program, about 46,800 seniors are food insecure. Like many other seniors, Social Security is Arlene’s sole source of income. Although Arlene receives support from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, she is grateful for the resources within her community that help further improve her access to food.

For the last 30 years, an organization called Helping Hands has been providing support for community members in need and served about 1,100 people last year. Arlene, like many other seniors in the area, depends on its senior commodities program, which provides household essentials, toiletries, and food staples. Helping Hands has a fixed pantry that community members can use once a month as a supplement to bridge the gap when money is limited.

Helping Hands also partners with Feeding America West Michigan, to provide a monthly mobile food pantry for the community. “It takes care of me,” Arlene says.

“We have a lot of seniors that come to this [mobile food pantry],” says Mary Tompi, Helping Hands Director. “I’m not going to let anyone go hungry.”

Learn more about the work United Way of Southwest Michigan is doing in BASIC NEEDS, visit uwsm.org/basic-needs.

Hundreds of farmers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers in West Michigan have edible food they can’t sell because of overruns, order errors, misprints, and other unexpected occurrences. Feeding America West Michigan distributes that reclaimed food to pantries, shelters, after-school programs, and more than 900 other agencies, providing food to nearly half a million people.

Healthy transformation for Covert corner store

Laura is busy—as a single mom of five, she needs to find ways to save time. Her employer, the Citgo Station in Covert, is helping her and its customers in the area to do just that—and eat healthier to boot.

With the help of Be Healthy Berrien, a collective impact initiative supported by United Way, the Covert Citgo is undergoing a healthy corner store transformation. Fresh fruits and vegetables, along with other healthy items, have been added to the corner store’s inventory. This gives customers the option of healthy whole foods amid the typical convenient processed and packaged foods. And, “this saves us a trip into South Haven,” said Laura, who can use her food assistance Bridge Card to buy produce at the Citgo.

Pulling together

This Be Healthy Berrien project, in partnership with the YMCA of Southwest Michigan, was made possible by a grant received through the YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids. They have been transforming corner stores in their region and were looking to expand the model throughout West Michigan.

The opportunity to partner with the Citgo Station came about through an existing relationship with the store owner, Max William. Be Healthy Berrien’s project coordinator Caroline Schier said, “We were elated to have the opportunity to work with William. His commitment to his customers gave us the confidence that the transformation would be a success in his store.”

Over the past several months, Be Healthy Berrien has worked with William to select a cooler for fruits and vegetables, develop marketing strategies and educate customers. ValleyHUB, of Kalamazoo Valley Community College, has also been involved in the process, by sourcing local produce to the store. Through combined efforts the store now has a full bounty of produce available to its customers.

“The goal is to make eating well an easier option for those living with little access to healthy options. The residents of Covert now have an option to buy fresh fruits and vegetables without traveling outside of town,” Schier said.

Looking ahead

This project serves as an example of how the longstanding partnership between the YMCA of Southwest Michigan and Be Healthy Berrien is creating community impact. With this successful corner store transformation under its belt, Be Healthy Berrien plans to continue this work with other corner stores in areas where access to fresh food is limited.

About Be Healthy Berrien

Be Healthy Berrien is a countywide partnership of Andrews University School of Health Professions, Berrien County Health Department, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Southwest Michigan Planning Commission, Spectrum Health-Lakeland, United Way of Southwest Michigan and YMCA of Southwest Michigan. They are working together to reduce obesity and chronic illness by creating healthy places to live, work, learn and play. For more information about Be Healthy Berrien, visit BeHealthyBerrien.org.

With the help of Be Healthy Berrien, a collective impact initiative supported by United Way, the Covert Citgo is undergoing a healthy corner store transformation. Fresh fruits and vegetables, along with other healthy items, have been added to the corner store’s inventory.