United Way Success Story!
This amazing family has overcome a ton of adversity in their journey. Their twin girls started out life very prematurely. Through a lot of therapy they have grown into healthy, active girls. This experience has only served to bring them closer together. It has also inspired them to be huge contributors to Neighborhood House of Milwaukee, the organization that helped them so much.
Driving around her neighborhood one day, Shirley turned down a street she had never seen before. “I drove by this big building called ‘Neighborhood House’ and wondered what it was,” remembered Shirley. Shirley went inside and learned that Neighborhood House is a community center that serves people of all ages and income levels through programs like early child care, after-school programming, adult education, and parenting support.
“I signed my kids up that same day,” remembered Shirley.
Shirley and her partner, Robert, were in need of reliable, close-to- home childcare and fun educational opportunities for her family, and Neighborhood House provided just that.
When Shirley gave birth to premature twins Faith and Grace, they knew they would need extra support. Due to complications from pregnancy and prematurity, Faith and Grace struggled with their gross motor skills, like sitting up, drinking, swallowing, and holding down solid food. As they grew, they were behind on developmental milestones like walking and speaking.
“It was so great to have Neighborhood House help me with Faith and Grace,” said Shirley. “They helped me choose where we should get the therapy from and answered every question I had. They also provided scholarships for all my kids to participate in Neighborhood House activities when I was struggling financially.”
“United Way funding enables us to provide scholarships to parents who may not be able to afford quality childcare services,” said Executive Director Jeff Martinka.
“We are as good of a resource as any in the region in terms of child support, preschool, and teen support. We couldn’t supply the quality services we do without United Way funding.”
