Author Archives: Julia VanTine
Posted on Wednesday, May 02, 2018
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
This Stevens & Lee attorney joined our board last November, thanks to a colleague already active in a number of local charitable organizations. He knew Julie wanted to expand her community involvement. When Opportunity House board member Carol Miller called to ask him to recommend an attorney for a vacant board seat, he thought of Julie.
After touring the shelter, Learning Center, and...
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Tagged:Spotlight
Posted on Thursday, February 08, 2018
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
You can work hard and play by the rules, and homelessness happens anyway. Ask Richard. He worked his whole life and held a good city job until six years ago. At age 48, ill health and an injury turned his life upside down.
But there is good news. This gentle, humble man has found a home at our House, along with hope that he’ll...
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Tagged:Client Success
Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
The black
Chevy S-10 isn’t new, but it’s new to Marvin Sensenig, and it gets him where he
wants to go. During the week, that’s to work and back home, and on weekends, to
family outside the city. He bought the 1995 pickup just weeks ago, the day before his 50th
birthday. “It was my present to myself,” says the Navy veteran. The truck also is a symbol of...
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Tagged:Spotlight, Client Success
Posted on Tuesday, December 05, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
In August 2012, in the midst of the Great Recession, Holly Hartshorne
lost her job at a small local company. The loss was traumatic; at age 57, the
marketing professional wasn’t hopeful about landing another.But before the end of that difficult year, she’d
gained something priceless: a purpose. We gained something, too: a dedicated
volunteer.Facing the prospect of...
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Tagged:Volunteer
Posted on Thursday, November 02, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
Her formal job title is “receptionist,” but no one here thinks of
Cynthia that way. Almost as soon as she arrived here in 2013, as an AARP
volunteer, she was ready to take on bigger things. “Just answering phones seemed boring--after a few weeks, I asked if
there was anything else I could help with,” says the Reading native.Oh yes. There was. And in 2014, she went from...
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Tagged:Spotlight, Employee
Posted on Thursday, November 02, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
Drugs didn’t break her. Nor did a tumultuous relationship or a health
scare. Smart and articulate, Maria is a survivor. It just took her a minute to
find her stride. Maria, 43, grew up
in Reading with her mother and two sisters. When she was 26, her mother passed
away, “and that was the beginning of my drug spiral.” She started smoking marijuana
and progressed to harder...
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Tagged:Spotlight, Client Success
Posted on Friday, September 29, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
Growing up in Brooklyn, 30-year-old Marquis Solomon had smarts and a large, stable family. But months before his ninth birthday, his father passed away. The loss left this bright little boy with a sense of abandonment that turned to rage. “I felt that I hadn’t had enough time with him,” says Marquis. Even his strong family unit couldn’t ease...
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Tagged:Client Success
Posted on Friday, September 29, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
Bonita Jo “Bonnie” Smith moved to Berks County from Chester County this summer. Along with a new home, the accountant embraced a new challenge: keeping the books for a non-profit organization. Having worked for a local township, her new position “is a challenge, but a fun one,” she says.
Outside of work, Bonnie spends family time with DJ, her...
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Tagged:Employee
Posted on Friday, September 29, 2017
By:
Julia VanTine
Categories:
Spotlights
For most kids, September means sharp new clothes, backpacks, and supplies. Thanks to our two local benefactors Jennifer Dinatally and Lauren Swartz, our kids in the Women’s Shelter hit the classroom in style. Jennifer,
a realtor at United Real Estate—Strive 212 in Wyomissing gathered the goodies with a friend, with “colleagues, friends and other co-conspirators...
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Tagged:Volunteer
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