| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Team Member Name(s) | Date of Encounter | Phone call or face-to-face meeting? | Start time | End time | Funds used? | Action Items | Prayer Needs | Peanut Gallery | |||||||||||
2 | C. Warden; W. Shain; A. Chelian | 12/22/12 | face-to-face | 12:00 PM | 12:05 PM | The meeting was really short. I don't want to say it was a let down but I had different expectations. We meet Ella, an f2f coordinator, at a Chilis in Concord. Then Vronika came in, was briefly introduced to us, and then Vronika left. That was it. Vronika seemed like a really sweet person but our interaction with her barely lasted 5 minutes. I didn't even order an awesome blossom. | none | |||||||||||||
3 | A. Lim; J. Tiong; A. Chelian | 1/2/13 | face-to-face | 8:45 PM | 8:50 PM | Gave $140 to help with rent; gave an apple pie | $140 | Follow up with C. Krantz on finances | Anxiety over how our F2F gig is starting off with money. | |||||||||||
4 | 1/11/13 | phone-call | 2:00 PM | left vm | precious anytime minutes | |||||||||||||||
5 | A. Chelian | 1/11/13 | phone-call | 6:44 PM | 6:49 PM | Asked about January rent: apparently somebody in her family was able to help her bridge the difference; Told her to always feel free to call me; Asked about setting up party. She didn't think her house was good for a potluck. She said there was a pizza place near her place that she liked and would nice to meet up at. I told her to expect a call from C. Warden | C. Warden to follow up next week about arranging party with Vronika and the F2F crew. C Warden assuming leadership role in party planning. (I already spoke with C Warden about this on the phone so C. Warden knows what's up) | pray for good pizza party coordination...i guess also good pizza at the pizza party too. | ||||||||||||
6 | C. Warden | 1/15/13 | phone call | 8:45 PM | 8:50 AM | Expressed excitement about getting to meet the Corbin family; picked a date, time, and place that would work well with Vronika's schedule for the get together | Contact Mountain Mike's Pizza, per Vronika's request, to try to reserve a room/table. | |||||||||||||
7 | A. Chelian | 1/17/13 | phone-call | 6:26 PM | 6:30 PM | Coordinated trip to Home Depot to pick up a closet door; kids are doing ok | J. Wenger, A. Chelian, (maybe somebody else) go to Home Depot on 20 Jan 2012 around noon-ish. Help transport closet door and then install it. | Go 9ners! Also, praise Jared's in-laws who are lending Jared the truck. | ||||||||||||
8 | J. Wenger; A. Chelian; J. Xu | 1/20/13 | face-to-face | 12:15 PM | 1:00 PM | watied for Vronika at home depot, stood with her while she picked up mirrored closet door (at home depot, she had apparently done the purchase online). loaded up the truck and met her back at her apt. dropped the door off in her daughter's room. she had two guys (friends/family?) there to help install - so we left after delivering the door. i think the three of us agreed she seemed pretty shy (even interacting with the home depot people). | n/a | ? someone call next week? make sure the door got installed? | prayer for the pizza party - that more folks would get to know her and make her feel more comfortable letting us be part of her life. | |||||||||||
9 | A. Chelian | 1/22/13 | phone-call/text | 6:00 PM | 6:03 PM | Left Vronika a voicemail following up on closet door and reminding her about the pizza party. She replied by text the next morning: her friends will install the closet door during the coming weekend. She would see us at the pizza party....A little disappointed that Vronika didn't let J. Wenger, J. Xu, and I help install the door the day that we helped delivered the door but we made ourselves available and she declined politely. A little disappointed that Vronika replied by text but I dig she's got three kids and work...Feels a bit distant but I'm just being anxious and what not. | Next week, follow up again on closet door to confirm her friends installed it. Have a good time at pizza party. | Please pray that we keep ourselves available even if Vronika isn't responsive immediately. Actually begininng to see myself as "desperately needing validation" which is pretty funny and tragically accurate. Will talk to therapist at great length about unresolved daddy issues. But seriously this entire F2F operation is weird so it'll take time for us to develop a relationship. Patience and perserverance and pizza. Plenty of pizza. Dip the crust in ranch. But mostly the patience part. Also, pray that we keep an open mind. I find myself speculating a lot about Vronika's back story as I see parts of her life come to light but really it's all speculation. | ||||||||||||
10 | Ja. Xu; Jo. Xu; V. Xu; I. Xu; J. Yum; C. Warden; R. Warden; A. Chelian | 1/26/13 | face-to-face | 530pm | 7pm | Pizza party: we meet Vronika and her children at Mountain Mike's pizza. Defintely felt a little bit of thaw on Vronika's side. Got to hear more of her story. Things went well. Pizza was good. Her twins are super cute. He daughter Maylaysia is really shy but I dig hanging out with a bunch of church nerds isn't a 16 year olds idea of a fun Saturday night. | 60 something bucks (receipt is somewhere in my wallet but I'm too lazy to get it right now) | Follow up on closet door | Continuing to reach out Vronika. Praise for C. Warden for organizing this sweet party!! | |||||||||||
11 | A. Chelian | 1/29/13 | phone | 7pm | 705pm | Confirmed that closet door was successfully installed. Thanked Vronika for coming out to pizza party. Asked how things were going. Fine apparently. Asked for a copy of resume (followed up with email on 30Jan2013). Suggested a picnic in a park (possibly in Albany) for next event. | Resume (send out to F2F team once received); picnic planning...vague idea right now. | Vronika really wants a full-time job. | ||||||||||||
12 | A. Chelian | 2/6/13 | phone | 630pm | 631pm | Confirmed plan to meet up at Starbucks to review resume | Meet with Vronika on the next day | Pray for resume meeting thingy. | ||||||||||||
13 | A. Chelian; J. Xu; F. Lai | 2/6/13 | face-to-face | 7:30 PM | 9:00 PM | - Picked up Vronika from her house and drove to Starbucks. - Vronika shared her desire to get a job, and was looking for us to help her either with contacts to jobs and input about job search. - James shared valuable advice regarding beefing up the resume. Her resume was pretty bare bones, and James was able to give her practical advice that will better advocate her past experience, intelligence, and skill set. - We shared some sample resumes and a powerpoint on creating a resume from a MPH standpoint. Resume Samples - http://www.mailman.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/Resumes.pdf Handy Powerpoint on Resumes - http://www.jhsph.edu/offices-and-services/career-services/for-students/helpful-resources/career-planner/career-planning-presentations/resumes-cvs-for-mph-students-fall-2010.pdf - We also shared some job postings to see what she was interested in and I think she had chosen jobs that had a good mix of children and health (which actually complements her qualifications) - Head Start home visitor, Health Specialist in preschool setting, and health screening specialist. She definitely has the qualifications needed, but her resume doesn't show it. -She has been frustrated in the past few weeks because she has applied to many jobs (even those that she is extremely overqualified for) and she hasn't gotten any callbacks. - Vronika seemed really encouraged after the meeting. We were stunned that she had a 3.9 GPA and told her she should shout from the rooftops her GPA, how smart she is. By the end, she was shyly smiling because she said no one tells her that. | Beef up and Improve Resume - Vronika will beef up her resume with her skillsets by adding bullet points to each job. James had a good idea to add everything and anything first, so that later we can shorten and condense the resume. - Vronika will add her GPA (3.91!!!! while having 3 kids) and relevant coursework - James will help her re-word her skillsets so her resume is strong and can depict her qualifications (i.e. taught 30-60 children at a time, admistered 150 tests, etc.) - Meet again and review changes and possibly brainstorm real time by having a laptop to make changes to resume - Pray, Pray, Pray: This is single handedly the best thing we can do for her. Lift her up to God and trust in Him. And she says she really appreciates it. | - Pray that Vronika will keep faith in God's plan for her. It has been discouraging looking for a job. - Pray for Vronika's spirit and self confidence. Pray that God can lift her up, and that she can see that God loves her more than she can imagine and to show this self value in her interviews and next job. - Pray for the job search and for patience and discernment while looking for a full time job. Hopefully a job that she loves and that she can serve the people around her. - Pray that God gives us wisdom, compassion, and kindness when we give advice and help to Vronika. | Can we all identify through LinkedIn or elsewhere folks who might be available for informational interviews? | |||||||||||
14 | A. Chelian | 2/7/13 | phone | 10:00 AM | 10:05 AM | Vronika dropped me a line this morning. She is having some car problems. She hasn't taken her car to servicing in 3-4 years. I'm wondering if that means no oil changes because that would be bad. She thinks the brakes are bad and sometimes the car "jerks around a bit." The car is moving now - she had some problems on Wednesday apparently. I'm in the office so I wasn't free to do an impromptu "Car Talk" session. She wants to know if we have any mechanics in our midst who can help her out. She didn't ask for money explicitly. She noted that I had told her there were 14 other people in the crew she thought we might know somebody who could help out. | Email group asking about car help. | pray for car problems | ||||||||||||
15 | A. Chelian | 2/8/13 | phone | 9:00 PM | 9:05 PM | Spoke with Vronika about car. Emailed her mechanic contact recommended by J. Xu | pray for car problems | |||||||||||||
16 | A. Chelian | 2/15/13 | phone | 6pm | 605pm | Followed up about car. Apparently she also has a flat tire. Told Vronika to ask us how we can help. Talked about meeting next week about resume | Keep following up about car maintenances and now busted tire. Resume stuff. | Pray for car and car tire. It seems like Vronika is either too busy to get on it. | ||||||||||||
17 | A. Chelian; J. Xu | 2/20/13 | face-to-face | 8:30 PM | 9:15 PM | Meet at Taco Bell because Starbucks was packed. I got a hard taco and a cheese quesadilla. A huge mistake. Vronika didn't do anything on her resume. J. Xu, Vronika, and I expanded on her experience a life science teacher in Richmond. Set up meeting for Monday 25 February. Again, explained to Vronika she needs to let us know how we can help with car problems. Explained that driving around on a spare tire is bad news bears. J. Xu spoke about an Excel project his coworker has. Vronika's laptop is messed up. Spilled some water on it. She uses a computer at the East Bay Works center or her sister's place. | Bring laptop to next meeting. J. Xu to follow up on Excel project. | Pray that Vronika can find the time to get her car fixed. Pray for wisdom and positive reinforcement for resume makeover. | ||||||||||||
18 | A. Chelian | 2/22/13 | phone | 9:30 PM | 9:35 PM | Spoke with Vronika. Said our team has not decided on how to help exactly. She has $40 to contribute. Talked about Firestone in Richmond since James has a membership deal with Firestone. Possibly go there on Sunday 24 February 2013 in the afternoon. Told Vronika I would call her tomorrow with what's up. | Follow tomorrow afternoon with team's decision. | Pray that we have the wisdom to discern the best way to help Vronika in this matter. | Hmmm, here's a test: If you read this put your initials and today's date in cell K18. | AC (2/22/2013); WS (2/25/2013); JW (3/14) | ||||||||||
19 | A. Chelian | 2/23/13 | phone | 11:15 AM | 11:20 AM | SPoke with Vronika. Confirmed plan to go to Richmond FIrestone. Told her to set up an appointment for Sunday afternoon at 230 | A. Chelian, J. Xu, W. Shain, K. Christopher making trip. | |||||||||||||
20 | Willie Shain, James Xu, Ashoke Chelian, Kevin Christopher | 2/24/13 | Face-to-face | 2:30 PM | 3:00 PM | The four of us went to assist Vronika change her tire. We arrived and James helped Vronika square things away with Vronika. Kevin and I talked to Vronika and her daughteer Malasia (sp?). Both were very kind and shy. It was good.We then left while Vronika and daughter stayed and awaited tire change. Also, we talked about how we want to handle finances. Going through account at church is a bit of a hassel and not necisarily the quickest way to do things. Other options: have treausurer in charge of jar; have treasurer set up bank account. | 100 | Figuree out accounting and maybe have a treasurer for our group | ||||||||||||
21 | A. Chelian | 2/25/13 | phone | 330pm | 335pm | Asked about installation of car tire. Apparently went really quickly. Told her to bring whatever cash she had earmarked for the tire as well as the receipt to James. Confirmed plan to meet up with folks today. Explained other folks except me would be present. Asked about Vronka seeing a mechanic about car brakes and the coupon I saw. Vronika said she would try to go to the mechanic this week. | Follow up on brakes | Pray we have the wisdom to find the right way to fix Vronika's car. Pray that Vronika and her family remain safe in the car. | ||||||||||||
22 | Jessica, James, Kevin | 2/25/13 | in-person | 830pm | 10pm | Reviewed Vronika's brainstorming lists of resume action items, incorporated into resume template. Gave Vronika some packets of resume and cover letter guides. | 0 | Vronika should complete resume in the next few days, and draft a new template cover letter. Formatting help on resume is welcomed. | James declined to wear his playboy belt and pink shirt tonight, because neither Willie nor Ashok were there. | |||||||||||
23 | Billy Cool | 2/27/13 | phone | 7:52 PM | 7:54 PM | Arranged with Vronika what dates she would be availible to do a bbq. She was excited | 0 | Confirm with actual families. Pin down date | ||||||||||||
24 | A Chelian | 3/3/13 | phone | 8:30 PM | 8:32 PM | Left VM | Follow up on brakes | |||||||||||||
25 | C. Warden | 3/4/13 | phone | 11:30 AM | 11:35 AM | Called to check in with Vronika. She sounded very tired. The kids were all off at school and she was resting at home. When asked about how the resume/job search was going, she mentioned again that her computer is broken so she has to go somewhere to get any work done (another barrier). | 0 | Continued prayers | Pray to keep Vronika and her family healthy. She specifically asked for prayers for "financial blessings" in whatever form it may be. Let's pray extra hard for the Lord to answer this one in a sustainable way, i.e. a job. Also pray for renewed and continued energy for Vronika. | |||||||||||
26 | J. Xu | 3/11/13 | 9:19 AM | 9:20 AM | Traded emails with Vronika about the potential part-time analysis job with the Oakland School district. She said Micah Richard called her and talked to her about the position this past Friday (08-Mar-2013). Vronika said given the job expectations, she does not feel it is a good fit for her. I followed up with an email asking her what the job expectations were. | 0 | None for now; waiting to hear back from Vronika via email; depending on the job description, we may need to encourage her to go after this opportunity | I did not wear my playboy belt and my pink shirt, because Ashok and Willie were not there :-D | ||||||||||||
27 | A. Lim | 3/11/13 | phone | 320p | 335p | Spoke to Vronika for the first time on the phone. She was at her grandmother's house in Berkeley. She says her grandmother has been there for 70 years. I asked her about prayer requests and she said that we should pray for her oldest daughter. Nothing specific, just general, but i think some of you know more about that. I checked in about the brakes and told her it was my uncle that was willing to help out. I asked her how much she thought she could contribute and she says she wasn't sure. She did say a weekend would be the best time to take care of these things. | 0 | Follow up on brakes, immediate need? our financial contribuion | Pray for Malasia, generally | I'm learning here, so sorry for the delay. slackers don't just automatically get better. It's a process. | ||||||||||
28 | A. Chelian | 3/12/13 | phone | 6pm | 605pm | Spoke with Vronika briefly. Talked to her about the Christoperher's laptop. She said she could pick it up since she's in Berkeley quite often to take Malaysia to school. Spoke about setting up another meeting for her resume. She was into it. | Kev-Dog/Lauren to contact about picking up laptop (I've already contacted Kevin about this, ball should be moving soon); Need to set time for resume. | Vronika asked that we pray for her finding a new job and to pray for her sister (generally, nothing specific). | Let's get serious, guys. Seriously. So immature. | |||||||||||
29 | Christophers | 3/17/13 | faces | Met with V and gave her a laptop, charger, and case. She seemed a bit more at ease in KC's third encoutner with her. We met her at the Hollis Park playgound and encouraged her to meet some of us at that park after church one Sunday or another. She came to meet us alone, left the kids at church. | KC experienced an overwheilming sense of morbidity in deleting his user account on the laptop. Indeed, when the time came he hesitated, wondering what metaphysical impact might result in this erasing of his furtunecookie-avatar-identity. Time will tell. | |||||||||||||||
30 | C. Warden | 3/21/13 | Phone | 12:00 PM | 12:09 PM | Checked in with Vronika today about life. I was encouraged by the fact that she asked me questions today and seemed more willing to engage in conversation! She had just gotten off of work and we talked a little bit about working in home health. I also got to talk to her a bit about what I do. I invited her to attend the support group meetings my clinic hosts, just as exposure to an aspect of public health that she may not have seen before. She seemed interested. Expressed concerns with struggling to find time for Christ and her relationship with Him. Encouraged her to hold me accountable (because I struggle too!) and said I would do the same for her. | 0 | Pray! | Her first prayer request was for her personal connection with Christ to be deepened. She says it's often hard to find time to focus on her own spiritual growth. Continued prayers for her children and finding a full-time job, an obvious top priority. | |||||||||||
31 | Willie Shain, James Xu, Andrea Lim, Jessica Tion, Ed and Flora Lai, Diane, Jesse and Jared | 3/23/13 | Picnic | 11:30 AM | 2:00 AM | We had a picnic. Jared and Ed cooked up some meat and we wnjoyed a lovely afternoon with Vronika and her daughter. It was quite fun and exciting to see her talk to many of us. Though I think she was dissaponted that I was not Ashok and even asked me about him several times throughout the picnic. Ed organized an easter egg hunt. | 0 | |||||||||||||
32 | A. Chelian | 3/28/13 | phone call | 5pm | 5:05 PM | left vm. asked about meeting for resume. general pleasantries. | follow up...maybe by text/email, don't want to come off as too demanding. would like to meet next week as a few folks have made themselves available to meet to review resume. | get our resume review action on! | ||||||||||||
33 | A. Chelian | 3/30/13 | phone call | 530pm | 5:35 PM | Spoke with Vronika about meeting up for resume. Will meet on coming Thursday. She said she had a good time at the picnic and I told her I had only been to one easter egg hunt when I was a kid and I felt like i missed out. Said she was doing well. Kids were well. Asked for prayer requests: continued job hunt and also vronika said malaysia wasn't doing as well as she could in school. | Follow up on Thursday meeting (C. Chen & J. Tiong should be available). | Malaysia isn't doing well in school. | ||||||||||||
34 | A.Lim | 4/1/13 | phone call | 3pm | 3:05 PM | Left message with Vronika to check in. Asked if she wanted to have coffee or lunch sometime. She actually called me back and left me a message but I was already at work. She hoped I had a good Easter and asked me to call her back. I will call her back tomorrow | Call her back and follow up on coffee or lunch | |||||||||||||
35 | A.Lim | 4/4/13 | phone call | 4:30p | 4:40p | Returned Vronika's call. She said she was busy this week because the kids are out of school on spring break. She watched a movie with Malaysia on monday. I didn't realize she had the kids on spring break because it would have been nice to take them somewhere. She was up for having coffee in a few weeks. We talked prayer requests. She was bummed because she was just cancelled at the 2-day a week job at Senior Helpers. The Senior she was working with canceled. She now is only on-call with no concrete days. This is bad... She relayed that she intended to go over the resume on monday with Ashok and others. I hopefully encouraged her and hope to follow-up | Call her back when I return from Irvine to have coffee. | Continue to pray for Malaysia and hope that she can do better in school as well as enjoy school more. Job prospects are the most important of all as we all know. | Pray that I will sit longer in our conversations. I'm not really a phone person and have a hard time with the silence, not sure if she wants to talk more, but know that she is shy and I am always quick to fill in the silent time. | |||||||||||
36 | A. Chelian | 4/7/13 | phoney phone | 615pm | 616pm | Left VM with VC to remind her about meeting tomorrow (Monday) evening about resume. | Maybe text or email; email C. Chen and J. Wenger reminder about meeting. | Good resume meeting. | Bought the Xu kids frozen yogurt just before calling VC. For my efforts, I was punched repeatedly below the waist. They shall soon taste the Wrath of Chelian. | |||||||||||
37 | Red Bean Bun; Shofly Pie; Brown Butta | 4/8/13 | Face-to-face | (9:00-ish | 10:00-ish | First off, thanks to Ed, Jason, Jessica, Jared, Ashok, and Carolyn for their comments and red-lines. Extra thanks to Jessica for being on stand-by for the meeting in case one of us couldn't make it. Jared, Ashok, and Carolyn met with Vronika at Starbucks to give feedback on her latest resume draft. Jared led first prayer. Then we asked her what she liked about the resume and what could be improved upon. (She said that she liked the formatting with the bullet points.) When asked what impression she'd want to impress on a prospective employer through her resume, she became more animated and said something along the lines of "That I have a passion for education, I have a strong background in science, and I want to do something that put those two together somehow." (*Good stuff!) We then gave feedback on the strong points of resume - it was clear, concise, to the point, and described interesting experiences that piqued reader's interest. Then we talked about the general areas that could be improved and broke it down into two main patterns or "themes" -- (1) Professionalism - does this look professional (e.g., is the formatting consistent, have you proofread for errors & inconsistencies, made the formatting bold & punchy for the reader to want to read)? Does this sound professional (i.e., starting with strongest action verb possible, telling the employer want the employer wants to know)? and (2) Specificity/Telling your Story -- not just telling us a job, but being specific (not vague) about what you did, and showing how this demonstrates that you're awesome and qualified, which serves in telling your unique story. (e.g., Instead of just saying she worked at X non-profit program, when she told us she worked at a program for incarcerated pregnant mothers, that definitely shed more light on her knowledge of reproductive health and interest in education!). Then, we went over each section of the resume. Things we discovered: (1) In college, she interned at the City of Berkeley public health clinic which is what sparked her interest in public health -- *This is awesome! and needs to be put on the resume and can even be its own Experience item; (2) When we pointed out some descriptions that didn't seem to convey what she wanted, she responded with "Oh, someone else wrote that." We pointed out that she needed to take ownership of everything in her resume. During the meeting, she seemed to not be that engaged (sitting back, reluctantly taking notes, crossed arms), when we pointed out specific things, but more engaged when we asked her questions about herself, like What impression do you want to give the employer? What activities did you do in college? and What kind of jobs do you want to look for (answer: health educator jobs). [Side bar: I (Carolyn) now think asking questions is the best way to engage and inspire her to care more about this resume/job search process.] Jared was great in reminding Vronika multiple times how good her resume was and to not let our comments discourage her. Ending off: Ashok showed and gave a copy of his resume, Carolyn showed Vronika a resume of one of her friends (also an MPH) - she seemed to respond well to seeing the examples. Ashok gave V a copy of the marked-up resumes we red-lined, as well as the comments people gave. Carolyn took notes during the meeting and gave V her written notes at the end. We discussed working on tweaking the resume and having her send us her current cover letter (she said she has one ready already). Prayed at the end. | $0 | Vronika: Take stock of the feedback she received and tweak her resume; send Ashok her cover letter for us to review and see if there's any feedback we can provide. Carolyn: Send Vronika the resume she showed her at Starbucks meeting. All of us: Set up follow-up meeting with Vronika. Also, what ever happened to the action item of us thinking of 2 contacts in Public Health to reach out to? | Vronika asked that we pray for her children and the resume/job search process. | Sorry, much of my peanut gallery comments were in my summary. But in short, I think we need to pray how we can engage Vronika in a very important endeavor of improving her resume which will help her get a job. What I observed is that she seemed not engaged when we tried to "get down to business" of "fixing" things, but seemed more responsiv and excited when we asked her questions about herself. Thus, I am a fan of the idea of before doing an involved meeting about the resume, the next meeting can be a more free-flowing meeting at Starbucks to ask her about what she wants, her dreams (as James said at our last meeting), what she needs from us -- these are questions she can't get "wrong" and may make her feel more comfortable. I think that will open the door for us to be direct with her about what REALLY does need to happen - like getting her resume more presentable, helping her budget, etc (as Jason pointed out at our last meeting and I agree need to be our focus, too). My last thought: Relating better is the means through which we can get it done! :) | ||||||||||
38 | C Warden | 4/12/13 | Phone | 1:50 PM | 2:00 PM | Chatted with Vronika about life. Good news: she got to work a little bit today with the home health agency (praise God!). I also found out that she had an interview this Tuesday for a very part-time tutoring position for autistic children. She's waiting to hear back. She was hesitant because the hours were in the afternoon when she would have to pick up kids..I offered that people like me (with more flexible schedules) might be able to help her pick up the kids if it would help her! Malaysia is still losing interest in school, which worries Vronika. | Prayer that Vronika's schedule with the home health agency will regain stability and that she'll get this job she interviewed for! Continued prayers for Malaysia's rejuvinated interest in school. Also, prayers for me that I can gain more courage when talking to her to push her for needs she may be reluctant to share (i.e. monetary)! | |||||||||||||
39 | A. Chelian | 4/14/13 | Phone | 9pm | 901pm | Left VM...called to confirm meeting on Thursday to review resume. Told her that our team is lifting her up in our prayers about her upcoming interview. | Follow up to confirm Thursday meeting; rally the troops who are available. | |||||||||||||
40 | Sweet Lemon Curd, Red Bean Bun, J.Tiong | 4/18/13 | Face-to-face meeting | 8pm | 9:15 PM | We picked up Vronika and went to Starbucks. The rest of the summary is here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EPoRtyzU7ZzWbKdeD4dewR32Kn9ae_3VoCju8XVizhE/edit | (1) Help with babysitting on Tuesdays and Saturdays; (2) look for job search engines. | The job search! | ||||||||||||
41 | JYum, Colette, ALim | 4/22/13 | Task force meeting | 10a | 1130a | -Listened to a presentation from CalWorks. F2F is forming a partnership with them, both as referrals to them and vice versa. -We should definitely get Vronika's resume to Carolyn and Etta and on to CalWorks to see if they can also help with possible job opportunities. - We did an exercise where we ranked ourselves and different members of our team on a grid with one axis being more task oriented and the other being more relational. -It was interesting to fill it out for ourselves and also for our team members. I was encouraged to know we have a good balance and we need to be sensitive to both when working as a team. | Send Vronika's resume to Cal Works? | Where was I on the graph?-WS It's always about you, isn't it, WS?-AC | ||||||||||||
42 | Red Bean Bun, jTunes | 4/29/13 | Face-to-face | 8pm | 9ish pm | Carolyn printed out the edits of V's cover letter that she received and presented them to Vronika. We encouraged her not to be overwhelmed by the number of comments and to just focus on common critiques that people made. We also asked her to think about tailoring what experiences are relevant to the job she is currently applying for and showcasing those in her cover letter with more specific details. Used her sample letter as and example and found out she counseled people about STDs (City of Berkely internship) and gave presentations about reproductive health to expectant mothers (Contra Costa Internship) which I don't think she mentioned before? V followed up with one job interview but no luck, she will call the other place this week, and lastly no news from the temp agency. She looked into two promising opportunities this week: case manager for foster kids at a non-profit and working with disabled adults at another non-profit. She has been using induct.com, craigslist, county websites (Contra Costa, Alameda, etc.), Sutter and Kaiser websites. We job searched with her using glassdoor.com - useful search terms are "case manager" and "outreach worker". V seemed unsure about Linkedin but when Carolyn logged in and showed her various profiles she seemed more interested. V had a relaxing weekend and Brielle is very excited about the pagent this Friday. V will send out a picture for those who can't make it. She is excited to have us babysit her twins this Tuesday so she can attend her small group. | 0 | Public health contacts? Follow-up with cover letter... wait for a job opportunity first so it can be better tailored? She was definitely more comfortable with just ladies around. Maybe we can make this happen once a month? | She asked to pray for her family in general. Still worried about the job search. General prayer for kids as well. As for our requests: pray that V feels comfortable enough to open up about her life w/o us asking her a bizillion questions and discernment in when to push her a little about this job search. | |||||||||||
43 | Colette, Ashok, & James | 4/30/13 | Face-to-face | 6:30 AM | 9:00 AM | Babysitting Braylen and Brielle: James and Diane very graciously opened up their home to host this first babysitting adventure. Not only did they open up their space, they also fed four extra mouths with pizza! Based off of previous interactions with the twins, I was expecting a little more wildness and more wrangling to be necessary. This was not the case. They were very well behaved (despite proudly burping at the dinner table) and shy at first, probably because they were in a new environment with people they did not know. They got along great with the Xu’s children and eventually opened up with us as well. After a TV show kept them enthralled for thirty minutes, Ashok, James, and I took the twins to the Pacific East Mall. The highlight was stopping in the market to look at the fish and crabs. Braylen loved it, but Brielle was scared and wanted to hold my hand and go down a different aisle. Outside of the market, the kids started getting tired and Brielle asked me to pick her up and carry her. James let them pick out one treat each from the bakery, which we took to-go and had them eat off of Solano Ave where Vronika met us to pick up the twins shortly after. All in all, we had a great time loving on the kids. I am thankful for the time we got to bond with them and have them grow more accustomed to us. Success! | Support Braylen and Brielle even more by attending the pageant tonight! | Pray that Vronika will be blessed by the extra time (without distraction) to enter more deeply into fellowship with her church community and dive into the Word. Pray for the kiddos, that they grow up knowing they are very much loved by their mother and our Redeemer! Pray that the whole Corbin family continually becomes more comfortable and vulnerable with us as a team. | ||||||||||||
44 | Colette, Ryan, Carolyn, Ashok, Andrea | 5/3/13 | tiny tots and teen pageant fundraiser @ Ephesians Church of God | 7:30 PM | 9pm | UGH! the program erased my summary a few times so if you find bits and pieces of this summary, you'll know why....We were very excited to be able to support Vronika and her family at the pageant last friday. Brielle participated in the pageant and said her "ABC's" like a champ. We didn't get to interact with Vronika very much during the program but we hope and pray that she felt loved and supported both through our presence and our financial donations. It was a privilege to be able to fellowship and meet with other people in her church and to catch a glimpse of her life that she shared with us. We were inspired by the music and the way the congregation encouraged and loved the children no matter what their talents were or how well they performed. | Several people donated: Wengers, eve, colette and ryan (fill in the blank) | Continued prayer for the kids and Vronika as well as their father. Praise that Vronika invited us to the pageant and many of us were able to support her. Continue to press on with regular check-ins and job search. | ||||||||||||
45 | Jessica, Andrea | 5/14/13 | face to face meeting | 7:30 PM | 9pm | Jessica and I met w/ Vronika @ Starbucks this evening. We mostly chatted about her life and didn't spend too much time going over the cover letter. Job Search Vronika showed us a cover letter that she sent for her latest job app: Parenting Support Instructor (helping adults with disabilities thrive in their chosen communities - http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/hea/3792397220.html) Please pray for this job, she is waiting for an interview. We will ask Vronika if she feels comfortable sending her cover letter out to us for a quick edit in the future before she uses it for applications. She has good content but needs better sentence structure. Temp agency - She followed up but with little response. Her case worker has been out of town on and off. Internet search - Craiglist has given her the most hits so far so she will continue with that. She feels more comfortable creating a LinkedIn profile when she has a job. Ideal job - Passionate about the maternal and child populations and education. Seems like she wants to help others who have been in her shoes (teen mom, single parent, etc.) CalWorks - She is familiar with all the programs and is already signed up. Got all her resources down. Current job - Was able to pick up more hours and has been working 3 days a week (4h shifts) for the past 2 wks. Financial Situation We asked her about how she has been making it work these last few months with the decrease in work and she said she has been getting help from her Father and Sister but that won't last too much longer. Babysitting Vronika appreciated it and said the kids had a lot of fun. When offered more chances to babysit, she said that the father was not totally comfortable with the situation (understandable). We offered to meet him and spend time with him if she thought that would be helpful, she will bring this up. The kids spend time with him often and they are on good terms. She acknowledged Jared's offer to call anytime for babysitting and will let us know when she needs it. Found out that the twins go to a Headstart Program where her sister is an Administrator from 9-5:30ish most days. Updates on Life: 1. Her goal is to look for a new apartment somewhere between Crocket and Emeryville, pref 3 bedroom. She was introduced to a possible Income Based Rent type of Apartment and would like help looking into this option. Currently she pays $900 for 2 bed 1 bath. 2. Praise God that she has more work at the moment and that Malaysia is finally enjoying school and seems to be settling in better. Malaysia is interested in nursing so we might set up a date with Andrea who can share her experience. Jessica will look into shadowing experiences at Kaiser Oakland and maybe Colette can look into shadowing at the clinic. 3. Vronika drives a Nissan Altima 2005, and her brakes are squeaking intermittently. She has not had the time to get a quote. Andrea will check with her uncle again regarding cost and V is available most weekends to meet up. V said she could afford $50, we need to discuss how much we want to contribute. | $0 | see summary | Would V be interested in one of the organizations addressing sex slavery? Seems like it could be relevant and I imagine Andrea has many contacts in this field. | |||||||||||
46 | Red Bean Bun | 5/17/13 | Phone call | 8:00 PM | 8:15 PM | Job reference: Carolyn called Vronika to touch base about being a reference for her job application for the Parenting Support Instructor position. Asked V to describe the job. V seemed to be in good spirits and excited about the job. She had an interview for the position on Thursday that she thought went really well -- she said she and the interviewer talked for about an hour. We went over her expectations of me. I told her that I assumed I would be a personal reference, rather than a work reference. I asked how she felt about me telling the employer that we met through Family to Family (and that I wanted to share how it reflects a lot of initiative and dedication on her end) -- Vronika was fine with it. She mentioned that she'd like me to point out that she has experience with caretaking and parenting, since she has three kids of her own. She also wanted me to comment on her writing skills, since I've seen it first-hand with her resume and cover letter. I also pointed out that I would share about the resume feedback process - that she's been diligent, patient, and open to feedback as we worked on the resume together. I wanted to let her know but forgot to mention to her that next time she should let me or whomever know ahead of time that she wants us to be a reference. Perhaps I can bring it up in our next face-to-face meeting or add it in to an e-mail I'm writing her or something. Meeting with Andrea and Jessica: Vronika said it was really good. :) Networking: I let Vronika know that my friend Sharon Pipkin was excited to meet and talk with her and to send on her resume and cover letter. Vronika said she would soon. Car brakes: I asked if she had a chance to call for a quote on the repair. She said "no," but that she'd get on it this week. | $0 | - Carolyn will make list of positive attributes to prepare for request for reference - Vronika will send Carolyn her resume & cover letter; Carolyn will do virtual intro of Vronika to Sharon P; - Vronika will get a quote on car brake repair. | Pray that Vronika will get this job or another one that will enable her to get closer to her goals. Pray for her meeting with Sharon P; that it will be of benefit in her search for a public health job. Pray for car safety. | What are V's expectations of the meeting with Sharon? Is she prepared to follow up directly on any contact or action suggestions? Can she clearly articulate what she wants? Can she balance that with thoughtful questions about what Sharon does and how she has attained her position? | ||||||||||
47 | Red Bean Bun | 6/4/13 | Phone call (e-mails leading up to phone call starting 5/21) | 6:10 PM | 6:39 PM | Networking prep: - Vronika has had experience doing informational interviews. On one of her internships during grad school, her supervisor introduced her to some people for her to do informational interviews with. - I asked her what her objectives were. She replied that although Sharon does epidemiology, which is different from her interest of health education, she still wants to ask her about her career path -- her current position, any entry level jobs she took before getting to where she is now, any extra classes or seminars she had to take, was she active in any public health networks. She will also ask Sharon if she knows any health educators that she'd recommend Vronika talk to. - She will let us know how the meeting with Sharon goes. As of now, she is waiting to hear back from Sharon about when they are meeting this week. She will send her resume to Sharon before they meet. I also requested Vronika to let us know if she'd like us to introduce her to more of our public health contacts, or whether she wants to focus on meeting health educators, since that is what she's interested in. (I think my/our contacts may not necessarily be in that realm.) - Vronika said she found our tips helpful. I also shared last minute tips from Ashok (re: sharing articles) and myself (re: tips for other people to talk to, HIV jobs we found on Glass Door that required certification in "stick" testing") that didn't make the e-mail we sent her. I told her that I was impressed with her questions and strategy for the meeting and thanked her for letting us weigh in on the process, despite her experience. I said that we all hope she can get the most out of the meeting and are excited. Brakes: - Before our phone meeting, I asked Vronika for a quote on the brake repair and how much she thought she could contribute. She got a quote from Midas: The price is $168 for front brakes and up to $350 if it needs rotors. I asked her to do a comparison with Bob at Arlington Auto (my roommate highly recommended them). She will get a quote from there sometime this week. She hopes to be able to contribute $100 by middle of June. Babysitting: - She's had a church meeting every day this week. She says right now, she takes the kids with her and packs toys to occupy them while she's at the meeting. It's working out well for now. We confirmed that she can call Jared if she'd like our help. Thrive job: - Thrive called her last Friday (I gave the reference on Monday, I think) and let her know they are doing a background check on Vronika right now. Vronika says "it's looking good so far," and she'll keep us posted. Prayer request: - Please pray for Malaysia's finals. Her last day of school is June 14th, so they're probably going on now or very soon! ACTION item for Vronika- Resume for Carolyn K: - Vronika will forward to us soon to pass on to Carolyn K | $0 | See summary | See summary | |||||||||||
48 | Andrea | 6/12/13 | phone call | 3pm | 320p | Chatted with Vronika about life and found out that she accepted a job at Thrive. I was really excited and share how it was an answered prayer and that we would all be excited for her. She will me meeting with her current supervisor tomorrow to find out how many families she will be working with and what the expectations for her job will be. She stated some concern as to the number of hours. She will be covering a large area from pittsburg to fremont. Vronika also expressed the hope to move out of her apartment soon into something bigger. She is not sure what Malaysia will be doing for the summer but expressed some interest in suggestions. She also will be meeting and networking with Carolyn's contact this saturday. | n/a | Follow up on networking, general job feelings and hours. Also follow up on car brakes since she will be driving quite a distance. | *Andrea to get it together and ask her uncle about brakes. Housing for Vronik and a good number of hours in the job and that she would like the job. | |||||||||||
49 | Ed and Flora | NA | NA | Wells Fargo Bank Account set up for the team 2 ATM/Debit cards Ed (Pin 9598), Flora (Pin 1263) | James as Ed card | |||||||||||||||
50 | A. Chelian | 6/22/13 | phone | 7pm | 701pm | left vm | follow up | Willie was there. He heard me leave the VM. It really honestly happened. | ||||||||||||
51 | A. Chelian | 6/24/13 | phone | 430pm | 431pm | VC returned call. I was at work at the time. Will call back when free. | ||||||||||||||
52 | jTunes | 7/3/13 | phone | 9pm | She hung up... so I texted her. Eeek. | |||||||||||||||
53 | Red Bean Bun | 6/24/2013-- 6/28/2013 | - Vronika e-mailed me her resume so we can forward to Carolyn Krantz. - Vronika said things like the job were going well, things were "busy as usual." - See prayer requests. - She said that networking with Sharon Pipkin went well, that they will continue to stay in touch, and Sharon will try to get her in touch with other public health professionals. - She said that there was no update with the brakes and that she had not researched the auto mechanic Carolyn C recommended and was open to getting help with researching prices. Carolyn C mentioned that Andrea was trying to work something out with her uncle. - Vronika requested help with getting Freon in her car; Carolyn C said she'd forward to group. | $0 | Pending. - Getting Freon coolant in car. - Brake pads - researching quotes for brake pads and rotors. Done? - forwarding resume to Carolyn K (not sure if someone did it - I didn't.) | - "I would like you pray for my housing situation to change. I would like a larger place. Also, prayers for peace and patience." - Pray for Vronika and the kids in general. | Curious to hear if she's open to working on budgeting! | |||||||||||||
54 | A.Lim | 7/3/13 | phone | 430p | Vronika butt-dialed me by accident, but prompted me to call her back. We had a very short check-in conversation. Not much new. The most pressing issue is the a/c. She said someone in Louisiana used to just pour freon in when she bought the can. easy for someone who knows cars i guess. Otherwise much of the conversation was similar to carolyn's above | -A/C, brakes | -same as above | |||||||||||||
55 | A.Lim | 7/8/13 | txt | Trying to see when Vronika would be free to drive to Antioch where my uncle could check out the status of her brakes. She said she is in Antioch for work on wednesday and friday. Logistically tough. | -Decide how we want to proceed if my uncle takes care of the brakes. Very reduced cost but more effort to coordinate schedules, people to go, etc. | Haha, yes, I've been butt-diealed by her pretty often! Maybe as an aside we can tell her to passcode protect her phone so it doesn't happen. She doesn't want to accidentally butt-dial a client or professional contact! | ||||||||||||||
56 | A.Lim | 7/12/13 | phone | 9p | 915p | -spoke to Vronika regarding the brakes, told her I would send her the quote on Mira Vista by her home. She agreed to pay the $100 and I told her we would pay the balance. Offered to have a couple guys accompany her but she said she was fine doing it on her own. She did ask how we would handle the payment given she is only contributing part of it. -We breifly spoke about the AC and she said it was getting cooler so she wasn't as worried about it. She said the job was going well. She is helping families, mainly single moms with kids from infant to HS, with resources. There is one family she is trying to let go of because the mom has been using her mainly as a taxi and got mad and irritated at her the other day. | -how to pay for brakes | -that she is able to let go of the family that is causing problems and not treating her well. That she gets more families | Wow, that's huge that she's sharing that! Glad to hear that she was able to share that with you, Andrea! It sounds eye-opening and hard. Will be praying for that and please let her know that we feel for her! | |||||||||||
57 | jTunes | 7/17/13 | phone | 4pm | 415pm | Caught Vronika on her way to pick up the twins but still chatted for a bit. She's going to try and stop by the brake place tomorrow and have them look at the brakes. Kids are doing well, Malaysia is enjoying her summer break. Work is going well and she likes her job. Vronika will speak to her boss about getting more clients. She did drop that problem client so now she only has 3 (which is about 20h of work). They are located in Richmond, Pittsburg, and Alameda. | - follow up next week about brakes | - getting more clients | ||||||||||||
58 | A.LIm | 7/26/13 | txt | Playing phone tag, did not get a chance to talk with Vronika | ||||||||||||||||
59 | A.Lim | 8/2/13 | txt | 230p | Txted Vronika and she said she had a really bad week. Needs to cancel on the picnic tomorrow. She apologizes and wants to reschedule. | -Andrea will follow-up with specifics | -Pray for her need whatever it might be at this time. | |||||||||||||
60 | A.Lim | 8/5/13 | txt | Txted Vronika again to check in since she did not call me back on saturday. She said that she is feeling a little bit better but to please pray for her financial siuation. | -Andrea to call on wednesday | |||||||||||||||
61 | A. Chelian | 8/12/13 | phoney phone | 9pm | 905pm | Chatted about job situation. VC said it was time to look for a new job because this job wasn't what she though it would be. Confirmed meeting with VC on Wednesday. Asked about car brakes. Told VC that we want to meet at the mechanics' on Saturday morning. She said she could do that since she had plans later Saturday afternoon. | - C. Chen, J. Tiong, A. Chelian to meet 14 Aug with VC; - K. Christopher, A. Chelian to coordinate trip to mechanic's on Saturday | |||||||||||||
62 | A.Lim | 8/9/13 - 8/14/13 | txt, phone, email | Had some communication back and forth regarding the CPR class since we decided to go ahead and take care of this for her. | -Forwarded emails to team that is meeting VC 8/14 to sign up for the CPR class with her. | |||||||||||||||
63 | A.Chelian, C.Chen, J.Tiong | 8/14/13 | face-to-face meeting @ Starbucks | 8:30 PM | 9:50 PM? | Chatted and reconnected on the car ride to and from Starbucks. At Starbucks, we prayed, per her request, for the kids and V's finances, and checked in and covered many topics. (1) Vronika invited us to a musical at her church, Friday, 8/23. Malaysia will be in the main choir (Ashok to follow-up on details). (2) Brakes repair visit set for 8/16 @ 8:30 a.m. with Ashok & Kevin (Ashok). (3) Red Cross CPR sign-up - we tried to sign up for a class on Ashok's laptop but encountered some bug on the Red Cross website. Eventually, Ashok followed up with customer service the next day and signed V up (see entry below). (4) Vronika is willing to meet with Christi Wednesday, 8/21 (@ 7:30 or 8pm), for budgeting tips. We shared a bit about Christi. V's topics of interest are creating a budget and ways to save, and anything that will help. V has received help with money in the past from family; but after she got her job, her family have stopped helping. Since then, it's been a challenge. (Carolyn to follow-up with Christi on time and topics). (5) Vronika is open to meeting regularly like every 2 weeks to check-in face-to-face and pray. Wed evenings work well. (Carolyn to follow-up on next check-up, perhaps 9/11?) (6) Vronika talked about her job and how it wasn't what she expected it to be. Does not like that she has to drive around a lot for her job. She gets reimbursed for mileage between client's homes and anywhere they request her to drive. Even so, Vronika feels the hurt of driving so much to her client's homes and in general. Ashok gave V a pep talk that she can look for a "better" job, suggested that we resurrect working on the cover letter (and probably the resume, too) for when she starts looking for another job. (Ashok to follow-up after we do the budgeting meeting). (7) Networking - Vronika is open to having more informational interviews with public health contacts (Ashok has one contact that he can introduce to Vronika.) (8) Big picture/follow-up - We asked Vronika what she wants, what is her wish list? She responded: a. 3 bedroom apartment b. a new car -- like a small SUV -- that runs better c. a better job ("better" - based on our discussion, a job that doesn't have a cap on her hours, doesn't require so much driving) d. repairs & improvements in her current apartment including: - fixed window blinds (currents ones are "shattered" and an eyesore) - carpet cleaned (need carpet cleaning done to take out stains that landlord has noticed and asked V to clean) e. Twins' b-day party coming up | $0 | (1) Pray - see prayer needs (2) Help with repairs/improvements on her apartment (3) Networking contacts, after Ashok connects V with his contact (4) Any leads on public health jobs for V (5) Critiques on her cover letter and resume when we resurrect that project | - For peace, for the children (they're doing well now -- twins' and v's birthdays coming up though, and Malaysia is starting school soon), and the financial situations - Please pray over each bullet item in the summary (like the Brakes repair, CPR class, budgeting meeting, the job situation, etc.) | C.Chen: It was really great to see Vronika and reconnect. I hope she felt loved and she seemed happy to see us, too. Praise God she seemed open to and prioritzed the brakes repair visit, CPR class, and budgeting meeting. Many thanks to Andrea and Jessica for laying that groundwork, and to all of you who prayed and researched for the various projects. Ashok is doing a lot of things right now. Please remember to support him. And please thank Christi if you see her. | ||||||||||
64 | A. Chelian | 8/15/13 | Call to RedCross | 120pm | 200pm | Red Cross customer service. Signed up for class | $110 | Follow with VC to confirm they received emails from RedCross; explain cancellation policy; make sure she gets to the class | VC goes to the class and passes. | |||||||||||
65 | Ashok, James, KC | 8/17/13 | in-your-face | 830am | 1000am | Hung out with VC while her brake pads were being replaced. The Good: Only the pads needed to be replaced. VC seemed pretty confortable hanging out with 3 knuckleheads while waiting for the repair. The Bad: VC did not have anything to contribute when prompted, though she led us to belive otherwise during the week. The three amigos did not offer to pray with her or generally center the meeting on God's will for community. The Ugly: Ashok is spending his unemployment attending tattoo expos, and dragging others (James) down with him. Only a matter of time before we see him with a pit bull selling his art on Telegraph. Also in the ugly bucket are Ashok's Windows 8 navigation unit and McDonald's oatmeal. | $270 | Check in to make sure the car is handling well. At some point, someone should ask if there's anything VC can contibute for the repair. | Sounds like Malaysia wants to play sports this year, so maybe pray for that opportunity and that she stays injury-free. Pray for F2F knuckleheads who meet with VC, that we remember to at least mention God and try to offer a prayer before leaving. | |||||||||||
66 | Jessica | 8/19/13 | phone | 5:10 PM | 5:20 PM | Called to check in with Vronika. She is thrilled about having the brakes fixed and feels safer. She is also looking forward to meeting Christy this Wednesday. She mentioned that she has been deferring her student loans. Not much else going on. | Keep school loans in the back of our minds. Should bring those up with Christy. Will also delicately bring up paying for part of brakes during Wednesday session. | Pray about successful CPR class and more hours at work. | This is weird. I see phantom Carolyn editing the log at the same time.... | |||||||||||
67 | Carolyn | 8/19/13 | text | 2:34 PM | 2:39 PM | Confirmed time and location for Wed meeting with Christi (pick-up at 7:45, meet from 8-9pm at Starbucks) | LOL (Carolyn) | |||||||||||||
68 | Ashok, Jessica, Carolyn | 8/21/13 | Face-to-face | 7:50 PM | 9:15 PM | Carolyn: The three F2F team members picked up Christi and Vronika for a Starbucks meeting on budgeting. Christi was awesome. She shared more of her personal story and her financial struggles (had $2,000 in debt and had to live on $50 a week), gave tips on various areas (to be described more below), and was warm and encouraging and told Vronika that God was faithful to Christi even when she thought she'd never be out of debt. Vronika seemed very receptive, took notes, and asked questions (to be described below -- the last one is of most concern to us). She did seem a little stressed out though and looked a bit haggard. Christi went over: (1) Her model -- her former employer -- system of keeping a list of payments that came in and what bills she would pay with the incoming stream. (2) Mock sample of fixed expenses -- e.g., rent, cell phone, cable/internet, car insurance, student loans, each debt (credit card), electrical. (3) Mock sample of monthly income stream. Take taxes: 35% of gross = net. Divide that by 12 is what she would have per month. (4) Mock sample of funds available for incidentals. Take monthly stream (ex: $2400) minus fixed monthly expenses (ex: $1700) = Total left for incidentals, like food, toiletries, entertainment, unexpected expenses (ex: $700). (5) Budgeting of incidentals -- focus on food first. Shared her personal tips: shopping based on menus, buying only ingredients for menus, making meat stretch over time as an ingredient rather than main course, economies of scale, dry beans, Berkeley Bowl bargain bins. (6) Clothes shopping -- invest in quality for things that may cost a lot now but save you money in long run (ex: CF's shoes, folding bike). If you're an impulsive shopper, try to get in habit of waiting a day before purchasing, try to avoid strolling by stores where there's opportunity to buy random things. (7) Health expenses -- Take advantage of FSA (Flexible Spending Account), track her health expenses now so when she enrolls in insurance program next time she can set aside appropriate amount for FSA (copays, prescriptions, etc.). Pay attention to which is better health plan ($30 copay, $90 monthly v. $20 copay, $100 monthly). Advantage to FSA and monthly fees is that it's PRE-TAX. (8) Other incidentals -- cell phone (turn on wifi to avoid data plan overuse charges), student loan - ask for deferral. (9) DEBT -- make it part of fixed expenses. Get on top of the due dates and take note of the due date when looking at your fixed expenses list. Include at least minimum payment. Prioritize highest interest rate debt first (credit card, then student loan). CF got loan from credit union with lower interest rate to stave off the credit card debt to break the bad cycle. Credit card debt -- might be able to negotiate with company for lower minimum payment. (10) SAVE a little per month -- even if it's $5. (11) Tithing -- it may be tempting not to tithe, but it's an act of trusting God. (12) Job expenses -- CF surprised that employer wouldn't reimburse for CPR training; but pointed it can be deductible for tax purposes. Suggested looking closer at terms of employment and that V make sure more expenses/training are not coming down the road. (13) Tips for borrowing from friends: Best to have a clear agreement in writing. It protects the relationship. Questions from Vronika: * If your income stream is less than your expenses, what do you do? CF: One thing to keep in mind is that rent is probably biggest expense. It should be about 33% of income -- if more, perhaps it's not a sustainable place to live and maybe look for a cheaper place. Another thing is to look at your incidentals and see what can be cut -- maybe you can do without cable/internet, etc. Also, might be appropriate to ask for help from someone -- like family, friend, or F2F, as a temporary measure. CF had help from her church Redeemer Church -- the good thing was that they did not just give her a check but asked her questions, looked at the full financial picture, and worked with CF. Next, maybe V might want to consider negotiating her salary or asking HR about annual cost of living increases, bonuses. She should seek wise counsel on this. Finally, CF suggested being as resourceful as possible. When in NY, CF knitted for money, did a catering gig, utilized every talent or skill she had. CF also talked about avoiding overconsumption and trying to reach equilibrium (that is, she couldn't eliminate debt over night, but could try not to add to it). (V is not paying for child care -- which saves a lot of money.) * How do you pay off student loan debt? CF: Again , prioritize the highest interest rate debts first. CF found it helpful to have a plan -- wrote out what she thought she could pay and how long it would take. Though it didn't play out exactly as she had planned, it was helpful to have a sense of what she was shooting for. * What do you think of short-term payday loans? (** Question that concerned us) CF: DO NOT USE THEM. Incredibly high interest rates and it's a bad cycle. If in it, do anything you can to get out of it -- transfer the loan to a lower-interest rate loan from your bank or credit union. Also stay away from writing checks with credit card. | $0 | (1) CF will provide worksheet for V to use and is available if V has additional questions. We plan to have a meeting with V once she fills it out and we can discuss it. (2) Jessica will talk to V to follow-up and in particular, ask if V is using short-term payday loans and try to get a better sense of what the debt landscape is looking like. (3) F2F team should discuss if we're willing to provide a loan to help her get out of the debt cycle, and how much. (4) Christi brought up a good point to ask V how the father is helping with finances, if at all. Discussion of boundaries/asserting herself -- if it's between letting things go with her family members/father of kids and making choices that are not healthy -- maybe she needs help with the former. | That V will continue this process of getting a handle on her debt and finances and that God will give us wisdom in how to help her. | A. Chelian convinced C. Chen to join by "commanding" her. Frigg'n awesome. | ||||||||||
69 | A. Chelian | 8/20/13 | text & email | Slime | Hammer | Got info about VC Church's Talent show also Fix it items. Fix items are (1) broken blinds; (2) clean carpet; (3) fix glass closet door | Email group about musical; follow with VC on fix it items. She had mentioned there were more items. Also it's a bit strange that VC needs to fix her glass closet door because we helped with that a few months ago. | Our team can find opportunities to help VC with her fix it list such that they are affordable or free. | J. Wenger brought up an excellent point: our prioirity shouldn't be fixing small things but guiding VC to a good job, fixing major things like car brakes. | I also sort of meant priorities within her apartment. Like if she needs to clean the carpet to get her security desposit back, we should probably wait until a later date. But if the lack of blinds is ruining her quality of life we could maybe do that now | ||||||||||
70 | Carolyn | 8/22/13 | 9:23 AM | Wrote follow-up e-mail to Vronika that Christi would prepare a worksheet for V to use and as soon as I got it, I would send to V. I suggested that we meet again once she's filled out the worksheet/looked at her expenses more closesly and set a tentative date to meet on Wednesday, Sept. 4. | Follow-up with Christi about worksheet and send to Vronika once CF sends it to me. | That V will go through with this probably hard and tedious step of going over her finances and that God will give the team wisdom and perseverance in helping V through this process. | ||||||||||||||
71 | A. Chelian | 8/23/13 | face-2-face | 730pm | 830pm | Attended church musical gala. There were a few songs song by a choir, a dancer, and a saxophonist. In total, there were about 30 people. Vronika and her children showed up a bit late. She sat behind me and we chatted a bit after the show. I asked if I could join her at a church service and she said I could. Later as I was leaving the church Sister Dixon invited me to come to the church too. | Visit Vronika's church. Let me know who is genuinely into. | Thanks that we could connect with Vronika at her church | ||||||||||||
72 | C. Chen; A. Chelian | 8/24/13 | face-2-face | 3:00 PM | 4:30 PM | Meet at Starbucks to discuss Vronika's financial situation. Vronika doesn't have the income or savings to pay bills. More details in email correspondence. | Meeting on 25 Aug at Carolyn's to discuss. | That Vronika can find peace; that the team finds grace to help Vronika; thanks that Vronika opened up to us. | ||||||||||||
73 | C.Chen | 8/26/13 | phone call | 9:55 PM | 10:05-ish | Carolyn called Vronika after the meeting to let her know of our decision and the terms. She definitely noticed that we were not covering cable and that we were paying the bills directly instead of cutting a check, and she wasn't keen about the weekly update requirement (Carolyn may have forgotten to tell her it was by e-mail and not in person), but she eventually accepted the rationale Carolyn gave for those decisions. Carolyn told V to let us know if she had any concerns and that she would have an opportunity to review the written contract and voice concerns then, too (though, we hope she'll agree). Overall, Vronika seemed amenable to the terms (she said they were "okay"). She also said that we may not have to cover the PG&E since she was working with them to getting reduced. | ||||||||||||||
74 | C.Chen | 8/27-8/28 | E-mails, texts, phone calls | Followed up with V about the new amount for PG&E (as she had indicated in our phone call on Monday night after our F2F meeting). We ended up cancelling our Wednesday appointment with her because she reached out to Salvation Army (not PG&E-- maybe I misunderstood or misheard) to cover her PG&E bill and the paperwork was still in process on Wednesday. Rescheduled to Saturday. | Ashok & a lucky person will go meet with V to pay the Check N Go, the bills we agreed on, and hand her the contract. | |||||||||||||||
75 | A. Chelian | 8/29-8/30 | texts | meh | meh | Coordinating with Vronika on meeting on Saturday 8/31 to go over loans and pay bills. Vronika is at a church youtf rally on Saturday morning so she is only free on Saturday afternoon after 3pm. | Find somebody who is available Saturday afternoon after 3pm (jTiong may be free, waiting for confirmation from jTiong) | I have an intellectual understanding of Vronika's position and all the delays our team has had connecting to pay Vronika's bills. Emotionally though I can't seem to cross the bridge. Please pray that I demonstrate empathy and patience in my dealings with Vrnonika. Or please pray that the team member who joins me can keep me in check. Also pray that Vronika has trust and patience with us. It's an awkward situation. | Praying for you, Ashok. I know it's been frustrating lately. I've felt it, too. | |||||||||||
76 | A.Chelian, C.Chen, J.Tiong | 8/30/13 | Vronika shared the good news that the Salvation Army covered the past-due PG&E bill! | |||||||||||||||||
77 | J. Tiong, F. Lai, A. Chelian | 8/31/13 | face-to-face | 315pm | 400pm | Went over loan terms; ask how she was doing; paid Progressive bill | 115.34 | Follow up for Check N Go loan; Follow up on Wednesday meeting | Check n Go still not resolved; thanks to all those who made this meeting possible | Jessica was too weak to carry my manly man laptop backpack. | ||||||||||
78 | A. Chelian | 9/2/13 | texty-texty | Confirmed Tuesday morning Check n Go mission; Confirmed Wednesday night meeting; we played phone tag, we ended up just texting. Again, my impression is Vronika isn't making the Check n Go loan payoff a priority. | JTiong and AChelian on Tuesday morning to meet; JTiong, CChen, KorLChristopher on Wednesday night to meet | Budget review thingy goes well; Coming to terms with feeling like there is still a lack of trust and the sense that Vronika isn't taking this seriously. I know Vronika takes it seriously but Vronika's actions do not follow my understanding of what it means to be serious and I know Vronika is stressed and avoiding things. | ||||||||||||||
79 | JT and AC | 9/3/13 | face-to-face | 10:00 AM | 12:00 PM | Picked up Vronika to take care of Check N Go. Arrived at the strip mall only to find out it doesn't open until 10:30. Grabbed coffee at Noah's Bagels and had a leisurely chat until opening time. Waited in line and made it to the counter... only to find out cash is the only form of accepted payment. Silly JT and AC then had to go to Chase Bank and get cash. Came back, waited a little more, then paid off the loan. Mentioned we hope she never goes there again, and she seemed to agree. She will keep her receipt. AC: Vronika mentioned a few interesting bits in the course of our "leisurely chat": (1) Vronika's mom passed away about 2 years ago and Vronika's mom was a really important support for Vronika. Vronika said her situation started to get bad after her mother's passing. (2) Vronika's twin sister lives in Pinole (3) Vronika has always been involved with church | 117+ | Pray that Wednesday goes well and that we can have a honest and fruitful discussion about V's budget. Pray that she doesn't take any more bad loans from desparate sources. Pray that her boss doesn't keep putting off her request for more clients/hours. | Kinda sad to notice that the people waiting at CNG knew each other.... On the upside, there's an amazing black people soap opera AC will soon become addicted to. CC: Yay! So glad the loan was paid off! Thanks so much, AC and JT! | |||||||||||
80 | Jessica, Lauren, and Ashok | 9/4/13 | face-to-face | 8:30 PM | 9:30 PM | Picked up Vronika and went our merry way to Starbucks. Opened by letting her know we're here to help and eager to do so. We're on her side and will provide support to get her to a better place in life. Even though we might not agree on everything, we encouraged her to be honest and share her opinions and we will do the same - just keep communication channels open. We encouraged her to bring up issues sooner rather then presenting us with emergent situations. V said there's always "emergent things" and she didn't want to overwhelm us by bringing them up every meeting. We encouraged her to go ahead and share those items, that way we know what's going on and help her in any way we can, big or small. Next we touched on all the rescheduling which was frustrating, but she said it was pretty much because she was waiting on the PG&E resolution. We'll work on keeping time commitments. We asked her if she was disappointed with our response to the last situation and she said yes. She wished we would've given her some money that Saturday, even $5, because she didn't even have enough gas to go anywhere. We expressed that was not fully communicated and next time to give explicit requests and we will try to meet her needs. Ashok then helped V fill out the spreadsheet on Excel and which showed a deficit of over $400. We asked her to prioritize her bills from most to least important then went over ways to cut down on expenses. Cable and cellphone were the most obvious ways to cut back. She didn't seem excited to get rid of cable because the twins love the disney jr. channel. V will show Ashok a copy of the two bills this weekend. Hopefully the AT&T cell plan can be renegotiated but cannot be switched because she does have a 2yr contract. There's no food expense - she uses food stamps. She did agree to let us bring her food once a week for Thursdays. Malaysia will be 16 in Nov and V will encourage her to get a job. All in all, examining the budget was a little defeating and we ran out of ideas, but I think Vronika took it well and Lauren and Ashok gave good suggestions. | 0 | 1. Vronika will send Ashok her cable and cell bills. We will try to look for better rates. 2. Start cooking meals once a week so Vronika can use them on Thursdays. Malaysia has choir practice at church so we can meet them there. 3. Birthday presents for the twins? Needs size 5 or even 6 for Brayden in clothing. | Pray that she will lobby for more clients at work and that her boss would be accommodating. Another 20h client would provide an additional $150 per month. Pray that she shares her needs more frequently and wisdom to know how to provide. Pray for more ideas on how to overcome this big budget deficit. | JTiong did a great job asking tough questions and getting Vronika to address them directly. AChelian is now sick of Starbuck's chamomile tea. The chamomile blend isn't subtle or delicate. Smells nice though. | ||||||||||
81 | A. Chelian | 9/8/13 | text, email | Tried calling, no reply so I texted. Asked Vronika to send me her ATT and cable bills. Received ATT bill by email, I was unable to open the file since it was in a Apple Safari ".webarchive" format. Neither Carolyn nor Kevin could open it completely though they were able to see that there was a $200 past due or something ridiculous like that. | Ask Vronika to send HTML file of ATT bill; Carolyn/Kevin to send directions on how to save webpage as HTML in Safari | Vronika didn't let us know about the large past due amount. Please pray that Vronika trusts us more; pray that Vronika faces her financial situation more honestly. | AC: Thanks, Apple, for creating a proprietary format to save webpages that can't be opened in another browser besides Safari. Thanks for making HTML useless, Steve Jobs. Do you have any clue how you run against the entire principle of the world wide web? Oh, but wait! My Mac Book Light 7S Pro costs $3,000 and goes great with my turtleneck and reflects my minimumlist aesthetic. So it's okay. I'm not part of the "herd" like those Windows users. I wear clean underwear and shower regularly and roast my own coffee beans. I'm fresh and original. Yeah!!! | |||||||||||||
82 | A. Chelian | 9/9/13 | phoney phone | 11:30 AM | 11:35 AM | Called Vronika: (1) Asked her to email ATT bill again as HTML; (2) Vronika apparently had sent cable bill but I never received. Asked to send it again; (3) Vronika confirmed that she spoke with her supervisor about her CPR training "last week". Meeting "went well". I commended her for following up and did my best to encourage her to keep pressing them for more clients; (4) Confirmed details about meals. (5) Carolyn and Kevin were able to view Vronika's ATT bill and saw a large past due amount. I asked Vronika about how much she owes on the ATT bill. She said she owed $200 due on Sept. 20th (or something). Either Vronika does not know her bill or Vronika is lying to me. Or there was some miscommunication. I really want to see that bill myself so I can read it over with her. Yes, I'm quite upset with this situation. I haven't seen the bill so I kept calm. (6) Braylon has a cough is at home today (7) I asked Vronika how her kids and she were doing and for prayer needs. She said they were doing okay. | Get CChen or KevDog to email step-by-step directions; Meal team organization; make sure to get cable bill | Braylon has a cough; Vronika needs to get more clients; some clarity about Vronika's bills. | AC: I sense that I'm taking my rage out on Apple fanboys and fangirls. Cuz this post and the post above were written at the same time. That's okay with me. Everybody knows that real computers have mouses with two buttons. One button mouses are evil. It says so in Leviticus. CC: Yeah, Apple! (Actually, I love hating on it, too.) | |||||||||||
83 | JT | 9/11/13 | phone | 7:50 PM | 8:10 PM | Asked Vronika how she thought our meeting went last week. She said it was "fine" and it was helpful to see everything laid out so she knows exactly how much money she needs. She also appreciated the different ideas we gave her. Braylon was out of school x2 days for fever and cough but he's doing better and no one else has caught his illness. V talked with her boss and she will be getting new clients in Oct. She will taking over clients from her friend that left to work at the mental hospital, which is about 20h of work, and possibly a new client in Richmond. Very promising! V paid her credit card minimum this week. I asked her let us know her bills paid, expenses, and an estimate of her new income via e-mail by Saturday. She says she not sure what her new estimated income will be. We will meet with her Wednesday at Starbucks 8pm for the check-in. She cannot go to the book event Thursday because she will be celebrating her birthday with her sister (most likely). We will start delivering meals the week after her birthday. V was thinking about having a party for the twins somewhere free like a park but hasn't made plans yet. See action items for gift ideas. | 1. Birthday present for Vronika? Gas gift card + something fun? 2. Birthday present for twins 9/15. Brielle needs new church shoes, probably size 9 (old ones scuffed with a hole). Braylen needs new jeans or pants size 5. I didn't make any promises, but if we get these things should we drop them off at her church Sunday? | V asked to pray for peace in general. Pray that Braylen gets better. Pray for Malaysia's cheerleading tryouts Th - Sa. | Thanks, JT! | |||||||||||
84 | C.Chen | 9/9/13-9/11/13 | Asked Vronika about sending her At&T and Comcast bills in PDF or tiff format. On 9/11/2013, she sent her At&T bill in two tiffs. | |||||||||||||||||
85 | C.Chen | 9/11/13 | Invited and gave Vronika details for Thursday event, "Free" book launch. | |||||||||||||||||
86 | JT, AC, CC | 9/18/13 | face-to-face | 8:00 PM | 9:30 PM | Picked up Vronika to go to Starbucks. Started with a few "icebreakers" which everyone answered. 1. Which accomplishment are you most proud of or What's the best compliment someone has given you? Someone told Vronika she is a great mother. 2. What makes you get out of bed everyday? The need to provide for her kids, w/o them she "would be in a shelter alone somewhere". 3. Where do you see yourself in three months? V would like to meet all her monthly needs w/o taking loans and maybe have some left over. Went over the budget worksheet. In addition to food stamps, V participates in WIC(?) and that is adequate for all her food needs, but when the twins turn 5 she'll be out of the program. Cable + Internet + landline now downsized to ~$120 per month and included 3 months of free HBO. Went over her AT&T bill, she could probably cut out $24/mo w/in the next couple months (1 "backup line", Malaysia's insurance, and no more late fee) and maybe more if we can find her a cheaper plan (i.e. consolidate data or cut out data). Also, something happened to V's phone so she's using Malaysia's old phone. We can find an old phone to donate if anything else happens. Vronika has not gotten her new Comcast bill yet, but we suggested replacing cable with Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, streaming online, and the library. She seemed hesitant because cable is the one entertainment she gets in her life (understandable). Malaysia's turning 16 in November, she will talk to her about getting a job. The twins enjoyed their birthday presents. V's church is having another musical on 9/29 probably at 7pm and we are invited. V seemed in a much better mood this week, and Ashok reminded her that things are looking up! She can get her deficit to $293 or even lower. | 1. Donate your old phone for V's backup. 2. If you are an AT&T customer with a cheap cell plan, please do share. 3. Consider attending the musical 9/29. 4. Sign up for meals - starts next week. 5. Think about job opportunities for Malaysia. | Pray that V's boss does indeed give her all the hours promised for Oct. Good news is V picked up an old client since she is now CPR/first-aid certified. Pray that God continues to lift V's spirits. | AC: Great job CChen and JTiong!! | |||||||||||
87 | AL | 9/26/13 | phone | 330p | Vronika says the twins are doing better. They are both over their colds. She seems to be doing well this week and we are trying to schedule in a day for the mani/ pedi. She seems excited about that. I reminded her about the weekly budget check-in and she said the budgeting has been helpful. She then had to go and said she would call me back. I'll wait for her call and update more if she does. | |||||||||||||||
88 | AChelian | 9/26/13 | email/text/face-to-face | 900pm | Cooked macaroni with spaghetti sauce and ground beef. So dig this, I knew I was giong to be frying stuff so I thought to put on a shirt. Because you should never fry food in the nude. Just generally a bad idea that I learned pretty quickly. I kinda wish somebody had just told me that rather than my having to learn that myself. Well, truthfully, I suspect somebody told me that but I didn't listen too carefully. But that's kinda the story of my life.... So I grabbed the first shirt I could find which was an old button-up shirt that I upcycled into a classy pajama top. But I don't do that thing where you walk around with nothing on but a button-up shirt. That is to say I'm wearing basketball shorts; I'm not cooking naked from the waist down. Anwyay, I'm frying up the beef and boiling the pasta and whatever when I spill a little spaghetti sauce on my shirt. No big deal. I'm a slob so this happens to me often. Vronika texts me and lets me know that Malaysia got a ride to church so that I'd have to drop off the food with Malaysia. I change into normal clothes and I drop off the food. I asked Malaysia how she was doing in school. Malaysia says she's doing well. Then I asked about her brother and sister and she said they were well. I didn't want to bug her too much since she's a cool kid and I'm a huge nerd so I bid her adeui and moved on with my night. But here's the thing. This morning I wake up and I look down at my pajama top and it has a spaghetti stain on it and I was like, no waaaaay, where did that come from? I don't even cook spaghetti anymore because I'm kinda over it. And then I remembered that entire bit I explained up there. See? That introduction had a purpose. You're better for knowing. One other thing that's actually relevent is that Vronika emailed me about the coordinating the meal delivery in the morning. Vronka was proactive about it which I thought was really neat. I'm not sure if the meal baby site gave Vronika a reminder email and that's why she followed up. I was thrilled to see Vronika advocate for herself even if it was only for some pasta. Not sure if I'm making a big fuss about something small. | Use different pajama top | Thanks for the opportunity to serve. | Thank you, Ashok, for cooking the meal! (cc) | ||||||||||||
89 | JTiong, ALim | 9/29/13 | Face-to-face | 3:00 PM | 4:30 PM | Picked Vronika up at her grandmother's place in Berkeley. The fam was hanging out on the back porch enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon. V's grandma is 95y/o and still independent, holy smokes! Went to Grand Nails where V got a mani/pedi and J &A opted for pedis. Vronika was relaxed, happy, and enjoyed herself - walked away with some nice bright color accent nails. | $24 | Pray that Vronika continues to open up and feel comfortable with us. | Love it! Glad it went well! (cc) | |||||||||||
90 | JTiong, AChelian | 9/29/13 | Face-to-face | 7:00 PM | 9:00 PM | Met Vronika at her church for a choir concert extravaganza featuring guests from Sacramento and Ontario. Chatted a bit with Brielle about her two dolls. Finally met Malaysia who was singing in the choir. Concert was super energetic, aminated, and loud. Jessica may have raised her hand along with the crowd (omg). Ashok showed up better late than never. Braylen had a fun time with Playdo and his two brothers (step - from his dad). Concert ended with lots of hand-holding and hugging. Vronika was happy that we made it out to see them. We're all set for another Starbucks meeting Wednesday night. ACheliain: Did I arrive late? Yes. I offer no apology or excuse. But let's not have Jessica exclusively control the narrative on the night's events: (1) At one point, I had to raise Jessica's arm up because she was holding it up like there were 20 lbs dumbells weighing her down. (2) Vronika's nails were awesome. My nails, after a weekend eating Indian food, were a bit curry stained. I clipped my nails though so they're okay now. (3) Malaysia seems really at home up on stage singing with her friends. I'm not sure if Malaysia is putting on a good show and smiling genuinely. I saw Malaysia a few days earlier when I dropped off food and she seemed really relaxed at her choir practice. My point is, next time, you see Malaysia ask her about choir. Ask her about new songs she's learning. Or if she has a big solo. (4) Church lady hats were on show. Jessica has comitted to buying and wearing one if I can find a nice one. | 40s clip of what y'all missed! http://youtu.be/zTek2uNDcn0 Buy Chruch lady hat for JTiong | thank you guys so much for going!! sorry i couldn't make it (jw) | ||||||||||||
91 | JTiong, JXu, LChristopher | 10/2/13 | Face-to-face | 8:00 PM | 9:30 PM | Picked up Vronika to go to Starbucks. We were a little late so we only went through 1 icebreaker with 2 choices. 1. "What brings you joy in your life right now?" V = Jesus as her Lord and savior, L = raising Leif, JT = Jesus and upcoming vacation. 2. "Is there anyting in the past you wish you could change?" JX = wishes he smoked less marijuana in high school so he could've done airforce ROTC. Clarified weekly check-in with Vronika, she decided she will continue to e-mail me her info. V will be able to cover her bills this month. She did not want to mail her check to pay back F2F so she will give it to us at the bi-weekly meetings. Two unexpected expenses were DMV $32 for license renewal and her landlord came to replace the blinds (since she hasn't done it) and charged $102 which she will slowly pay back. V has 3 new clients which gives her 10 - 11h more per week = $200-300 more per month. Now she is at 26h total per week, 30h is considered full-time at her work. She possibly has 1 more client in the making. V did not get a chance to cancel the third line and extra insurance, but she will do so this week. She was willing to consider a cheaper phone plan w/o data and we showed her the options with CA Lifeline (which is hecka cheap!). JX suggested loaning her a GPS in case she needs it while on the road for work if she cancels her data. V will also look into how much the termination fee is for AT&T. Verizon has a pretty cheap pre-paid plan that includes data. We gave her until Nov 1 to consider these options. We approached the cable subject again and suggested Roku when V told us online streaming doesn't work well for her. She really wants to keep her cable since it's the 1 luxury she has - let's not bring it up anymore. We asked V to keep a record of the unpaid miles she drives for work so she can deduct them on her taxes. She seemed to like this idea. V is doing much better this month and is happy with where we are now. She requested a used vacuum since hers doesn't work anymore. Malaysia is involved with a soda study at Children's Hopsital so she will have some pocket money soon. | 0 | 1. Check up on the cancelation of the third line/insurance and get the termination fee quote. 2. Get her a used vacuum and an old cellphone for backup. 3. Malaysia's birthday is 11/15 and Thanksgiving is coming up... things to consider. 4. At the next face-to-face, use the "Is there anything in the past you wish you could change" icebreaker. V definitely responded when LC made the comment "Gosh there's too many to name." and I (JT) think it's worth pursing. | Praise God for progress! Nearing the black! | Decaf Americanos from Starbucks are disgusting. *sounds like a great meeting! thanks, guys! :) -CC AC: "Marijuana illegal but cigerettes cool / I might look kinda funny but I ain't no fool" - OutKast | ||||||||||
92 | A. Chelian | 10/10/13 | face-to-face | 9:03 PM | 9:06 PM | Execute program Social Interaction v23.4.001 -Collect food at the Wenger Den. -Drive to church on Alcatraz -Give food to Malaysia -Make pleasant conversation -Summary of social interaction --Overall awkwardness: 64 Nerds --Casualties reported: 0 --Carbon footprint: Probably could have ridden bike --Wedgies received: 0.324 (thanks, Freddy, you big bully) -Success: Food delivered. No one cried. End program I asked Malaysia how choir practice was going. I asked if she ever would do a solo and she was pretty sure she'd never do it because she said she'd be too nervous. I told her that all performers get nervous but that anxiety usually drives them to overprepare and that's what makes them great performers. I told her about the laywers at my old company and how much time to put into preparing for trial and talking to juries. I asked Malaysia about her birthday plans. I guess she and some friends are having a dinner party in San Francisco (I was notably not invited). That sounds pretty cool. I'm glad she has friends and has cool plans and stuff. I didn't really have friends back when I was 16. Or cool plans. Or...you know it was hard being a robot. Robots are just kinda different. Taylor Swift has no idea. | Love!! | -Upgrade Social Interaction program, latest version has better wedgie protection. -Pull wedgie delicately from bottom-side. -Follow through on promise to buy Freddy ice cream. | Thankful Jared's family could help out. | AC: Woah, Ashok, you're awesome. Did anyone mention that recently? What's your twitter handle, I bet you're really funny on twitter. *You're awesome, Ashok, wedgie and all. Thanks for the Wengers for cooking the meal and for Ashok for delivering it! -cc yes, big props to Ashok for helping out after I realized Jesse would be at women's group during the drop off time. also, if you think that wedgie was bad, just wait and see what happens if you don't get him ice cream | ||||||||||
93 | A.Lim | 10/12/13 | phone | 5pm | Vronika was at the park playing with the twins. She said this week was pretty good. She has 4 families she is working with. None have been affected by the governement shutdown yet. So that is good. She said she sent all the updates to Jessica so J should have the goods on that. Malaysia's soda study went well. She made a little extra money. She called it play money. She asked for prayer for everyone's health these next few weeks. We talked about flu season and colds. She did really like her pedicure, although her manicure is already gone. | |||||||||||||||
94 | JT, JX, and groupie DX | 10/16/13 | face-to-face | 8:00 PM | 9:15 PM | Icebreaker 1: What brings you comfort when you're unhappy? V=being cozy in her room alone while watching TV. JT=eating a treat or watching TV, JX=eating Church's spicy chicken Icebreaker 2: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why? V=be less shy so she can have more friends and talk to people easier, JT=be less insecure and afraid, this keeps her from achieving more in life, JX=wished he studied harder in college and had more drive/motivation at an earlier age. V gave JX the $20 to pay back F2F. She has started her mileage notebook. Bills are all paid this month except car insurance which she can cover. V got that 1 extra client which gives her another 10h per week. This client is pregnant right now so V will get more hours once the baby is born. Her new income from work is now 750 + 750 = 1500/month, plus the child support means she's out of the red! Yay! An unexpected expense was renewing her car registration = $116. We went over V's Comcast cable/internet bill, it's $120 for the next 3 months until they start charging for DVR again then it's $137.95. The third AT&T line is cancelled and penalty fees are V=$155, M=$225. We informed V that the money we donated for the F2F fund is reaching it's end. We also brought up the idea of an emergency fund and showed her SmartyPig and Mint.com - she will look into them on her own. Right now V has bank accounts with Chase and Bank of the West, Malaysia also has a savings account. JX suggested using a credit union because they give higher interest rates, even for checking accounts. V did not watch the videos Carolyn suggested, but we showed her the website and suggested a few that were helpful and informative. Malaysia is rearing and ready to get a job and V is very happy about that. She can work 15 - 20h per week and will help pay some of the household bills. M is interested in retail or food industry jobs either accessible by bus from her highschool or near her home. V will pick her up from work. V's first job was like meals on wheels for the elderly. JT worked as a front cashier and Walmart and JX worked as a dishwasher. V will come to the kite picnic this Saturday 4pm, JX forwarded the info. All in all,V looked MUCH happier and was chattier this week. Things are going well. | 1. JX will scan the cable bill and send it out for review. 2. Ashok, can you check with Verizon if they can unlock your old phone? 3. Help Malaysia look for job opportunities. 4. Get the vacuum from the Ellisons. V has a "stick vacuum" and it doesn't sound worth repairing. 5. JX and EL, please update everyone on the F2F account so we know how much is left. 6. Consider broaching topics like debt consolidation and what not? At least think about the next phase for V. | Praise God for answering our prayers! If I calculated correctly, V should have at least $150 extra per month! Pray that her work is stable and she keeps all her clients. Pray that Malaysia is able to get a conveniently located job and something miraculously well-paid for a 16y/o. Pray that V continues to grow closer to God and us as we struggle through this together. | ~V has a spectacular new hairdo. Look forward to it on Saturday. ~How the heck do you get this thing to skip one line down???? *CC: Awesome work, Jessica and James! You guys covered a lot with V, and praise God for her getting the extra income! LC: Skip one line down: Alt+Enter (at the same time). Voila!! I skipped down a few lines. Use this power wisely though. It can be annoying when you have too many lines. | |||||||||||
95 | Carolyn, James | 10/18/13 | Face-to-face drop off | 9pm-ish | 9:20-ish | Carolyn, accompanied by James (Thanks, James!) dropped off some turkey chili to Vronika at her home. Vronika was really patient and flexible with the late drop-off and mutliple texts regarding the shifting drop-off times from Carolyn -- Carolyn got a little tied up with work that night (ah, the post-gov't shutdown blues). Vronika seemed thankful and gave her nice warm smile, which was definitely a highlight of the evening for me (Carolyn). Another highlight was getting a peek of Brielle coming out momentarily to greet Vronika as she went back into the apartment. too cute!! *Note: I bought a reusable, recyclable aluminum platter for the food. I told her she could keep it or recycle it, or if she didn't want it, I could take it back and have someone else use it for the next meal. | $40-ish | Praise God for home-cooked meals and how it brings people together. Just something about them! | ||||||||||||
96 | JT, AC, and JW | 10/30/13 | Face-to-face | 8:30 PM | 9:30 PM | Icebreaker 1: What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think about God? V: Love, JW: hope, JT: love, AC: beginning and end. Icebreaker 2: Who had the most influence over choices you made in life when you were growing up? V: Grandma Alma - very opinionated and was always giving advice some of which V still remembers today, JW: dad and brother, AC: parents and environment (suburbia expecations), JT: parents How do you think F2F is going so far? V said she really felt our support and encouragement. F2F has been an asset and she has learned many things. She is thankful for an awesome resume and all the job search help. We helped her through a tough time and got her thinking about the "bigger picture". I asked if there were any improvements we coud make and V said we're doing fine. What goals would you like to set for the future? V would like to find an apt between Hercules and Emeryville (her sister lives in Pinole) that has rent based on income. She would like to trim down her cellphone bill (her contract ends in May but Malaysia's just renewed for 1yr). Lastly, she would like more hrs or a different job and she has applied for 1 already. I said we had some suggestions for the next phase of F2F and then we watched the "Getting out of debt" and "Creating a safety net" BOA videos. V said they were interesting and seemed to appreciate the idea of saving since "things come up all the time" such as paying the DMV this month. Next, we attempted to update the budget spreadsheet with her new income and current debt, but she couldn't remember exact amounts. We then asked V to take more ownership in planning for her future and gave her assignments for the next face-to-face. 1. Find and add the exact amount of AT&T, Comcast, credit card, and school loan debt that is still owed. 2. Make a plan of how you want to tackle debt and saving. 3. Consolidate your cell data plan with Malaysia. V returned people's tupperware and we gave her the vacuum from the Ellisons. She was thankful. | 0 | ~ Whoever follows up with V this week, definitely ask her how the action plan is coming along. ~ Malaysia's birthday is 11/15. She loves clothes, maybe we can get her a gift card for Macy's or Rainbow (one of her favorite stores, there's 1 in Emeryville). | V requested prayer for peace, a better job, and finding the ideal apt. Pray that V is able to make a good debt/savings plan. We would like to see her be more proactive and learn good habits that last well after F2F ends. | CC: Thanks for the detailed summary and for leading this meeting, JT, JW, and AC! Sounds like she's appreciated and found useful the stuff F2F has done with her. Wow, she applied for another job! Go, V! I'm excited she's articulated some concrete goal of a better apartment and I look forward to seeing the amounts of her bills. AC: JTiong accused me accused me of having a "first-grade sense of humor". When pressed for specific examples, JTiong had none. I expanded the range offering her all of elementary school (K-5). Again, JTiong had no examples of my elementary school humor to cite. I called her a big doody-head and the matter was resolve amicably. More importantly, JWenger signed on as a "technical consultant" for my sci-fi thriller about a yeast uprising. | ||||||||||
97 | AL | 11/10/13 | phone | 4pm | Vronika shared that she enjoyed the dinner's that she has been receiving on a weekly basis. For future reference, She has particularly enjoyed ashok's pasta, carolyn's chili and the fried chiken courtesy of james and willie. She and the kids also enjoy chinese food ie. sechuan chicken, orange chicken, fried rice, chow mein. Vronika has had a full week and and would like continued prayer for a full-time job with less travel. She shared that she recieved a notice from her landlord that in December, they will raise the rent $50. She is concerned about this and has wanted to find a different place. She sent her weekly email to Jessica and intends to pay down her debt $5-10 a month. | Continue to pray for Vronika's job search and plan for housing. | ||||||||||||||
98 | ALim, AChelian | 11/13/13 | face-to-face | 8:30 PM | 9:30 PM | Visit for bi-weekly check-in. Icebreaker: 1. What's your favorite memory/family tradition? Vronika's family celebrated Christmas at their late grandmother's house, all the relatives, shared gifts. 2. What was one of you hardest experience growing up? At the age of 10, Vronika returned to Berkeley from her summer break in Lousiana. She learned that her grandfather had passed away in Berkeley. Her family didn't let her know since they wanted her sister and her to enjoy their break. It was hard not seeing her grandfather around anymore. Topics Discusseed -Rent increaesed by $50. Vronika's lease is month to month. In response, Vronika hopes to find a cheaper place and bigger place. She's been looking at affordable housing options. Her rent range is $850-950/m. Geography Hercules to Emeryville. -Vronika's plan to address her outsanding balances are to pay them down $5-10 each month. So $5 to her ATT balance and another $5 to her Comcast balance over the monthly dues. She confirmed (and I pressed on this point) that there are no more penalaties. i.e. outstanding balances can be paid down with out interest. -Vronika and Malaysia's ATT bill is now between $150-160/m after Vronika consolidated their data plan. -Vronika did not provide any of the material we requested: she doesn't know her exact ATT or Comcast. I shall email her requesting the material again. This time with more specific instructions. -Vronika said she valued the budgeting that we're doing as it's helped her see the "bigger picture". -For Christimas, Vronika will celebrate with her family with a ham and turkey. Vronika requested gifts from Salvation Army for her children. She wouldn't mind a gift card from Ross/Target/Macy's. -Vronika has been looking into other jobs. Her sister is helping look for jobs. She recently saw a job as a nutrition assistant in Alameda that she thought was interesting. | $20 | Folllow up email to Vronika for the following items: ATT/comcast/credit card exact balance; ask for list of affordable housing opportunities; arrange meeting for week after Thanksgiving | Vronika asked for continued stability; better job opportunites; health; her grandmother broke her hip and is recovering. | CC: Thanks for the great summary and for meeting with Vronika and pressing for some important information! | ||||||||||
99 | Carolyn, Jessica | 12/4/13 | Face-to-face | 8:00 PM | 9:30-ish PM | - Icebreaker (thought of by Vronika!): What do you want for Christmas? CC blurted out, A boyfriend (ha!). JT said her wish is already coming true -- her parents are coming to town for Christmas and she will see family. VC said, A Kindle. - Weekly check-in: Vronika sent it on 11/30/2013 to the F2F list, as we had requested, but the e-mail didn't go through. From now on, she will send the weekly check-ins to the F2F group, but will also cc CC and JT as back-up. V forwarded CC and JT her 11/30/2013 e-mail. CC inputted the amounts from that e-mail into a Google spreadsheet and showed V that in a week, V spent $270, had $520 in outstanding bills, and $100 in her bank account. CC explained that this was the purpose of the weekly check-ins -- to get a quick and big-picture sense of how much money is going out, coming in, and is looming as outstanding bills. F2F will provide her the spreadsheet breakdown every week. After a certain point, she can do this on her own. - Paying down outstanding bills: V mentioned to AL/JT before that she'd like to pay down her Comcast and AT&T bills, a little bit each month, around $5 and $10 per month. At our meeting, V confirmed that she had not started that yet and plans to start that in January, after the holidays. She verified that she is charged a penalty late fee of around $5 for both of them. CC & JT pressed her if she could pay a little more, like $20 per month; she said she wasn't sure, especially after the rent increase. V consistently pays the minimum on her credit card balance and she is current on the monthy balances for Comcast and AT&T. As of now, outstanding/not paid yet bills are credit card $274.68, Comcast $137.27, and AT&T $104.74. V uses the credit card only to pay for gas when she is low on her bank account debit card. - Time to buckle down - we only have 6 months left. V has $100 in her bank account. And that's an improvement compared to before -- but she could do better. Next meeting 12/18: V has to come up with 3 ideas, and F2F will come up with 3 ideas to improve her financial situation. If she wants to ask for another loan, she has to make a good case for it. V and CC/JT were scratching heads for ideas. - Asked her what she wants out of the last 6 months -- reiterated her desire for a better job and housing. - Better Job: F2F will help her obtain a better paying job with regular hours by looking at her resume/cover letter; she doesn't need help with looking for positions - she's more interested in getting our feedback on her resume/cover letter. - Better Housing that's bigger and not as much as $950 she's paying now. V confirmed she is eligible for Section 8. F2F will help her. CC will look into housing in Alameda. - Next meeting, 12/18: (1) Discuss 3 ideas by V, 3 ideas by team to improve financial situation, (2) Resume feedback, and (3) Housing leads, if any. - Check-in with V at the end of meeting: How do you feel at the end of our meeting? She said, "A little stressed" and she looked a bit stressed espeically after we were trying to think of ideas and couldn't think of any. JT mentioned to me that she looked more relaxed and happier overall, maybe after the holidays. CC's sense is that V was taking everything in stride and we were able to connect and laugh, which was fun. | $0 | - Team will give feedback on V's resume and cover letter. Vronika will provide job description of last job. - Team will help look for housing. V qualifies for Section 8. Carolyn knows of section 8/low-income housing in her neighborhood in Alameda and will look into that. - Next meeting, 12/18: (1) V will present 3 ideas to cut her costs, team members will present 3 ideas, too (*this is a great time to introduce cutting cable and Roku!), (2) Resume feedback, and (3) Housing leads, if any. - CC will check with Ashok/James with the F2F list -- why can't V send the list-serv e-mails? | Peace for Vronika and her family. Keeping safe and healthy. | It was awesome seeing V after a long time not seeing her! :) Good stuff. -CC AC- Just remembered Vronika cannot email the google group unless Vronika were a member of the google group. As it's not wise to include Vronika on our internal correspondence and I don't want to deal with another heartache of setting up another google group, we will recommend that Vronika simply email Carolyn, Jessica, James, and Ashok. Thanks for meeting with Vronika. A little disappointed that there is a $5 penalty. I asked her about that quite directly at a previous meeting and Vronika was confident there wasn't. | ||||||||||
100 | A. Chelian | 12/16/13 | phoney phone | 830pm | 835pm | Confirmed Wednesday meeting. Asked her out her kids were and what her holiday plans were. Everything seemed ok. | Connect with JXu and JTiong. | Wednesday meeting goes well. |