Every community in America faces pressures from the pandemic. Whether they’re caused by virtual learning, job losses, or health crises, communities are under enormous pressures. The pandemic changed the ways society functions and displaced many people’s regular lives. Managing all this change and stress is challenging for families, especially those dealing with job loss or difficult home situations. Helping local families survive and thrive during this period is nonprofit organization BCFS Health and Human Services. This group runs a Corpus Christi location that provided essential support for local families. The organization is part of a larger system of nonprofits that offer a range of services including foster care placement, orphaned children assistance, homeless youth services, and other related capabilities.
Director Robin Soto leads the Corpus Christi office, and holds responsibility for the local community efforts and her team members. She and her staff support the community with family planning, educational guidance, and other services. They treat every family and person as an individual project and offer assistance that makes the most sense for every situation. A core part of this office’s work during the pandemic was to transition many of its services to virtual content and delivery, a significant change from the typical in-person work.
The organization’s Corpus Christi efforts produced multiple success stories among residents who were able to find new work and improve their family dynamics. Two of these stories involved young mothers. One named Lena* recently lost her job at the local school district. With a young child at home and another baby on the way, Lena needed fast help to find a job and stabilize her home life. BCFS Health and Human Services stepped in to provide her with a month’s rent payment and job resources that helped her quickly land a new position.
Another local mother of four leveraged the organization’s help through parenting classes to help her manage her four children’s behavioral issues. The tactics discussed in the course allowed her to better communicate with her kids and reduce family tensions. She learned how to engage with her kids at their level and tips for defusing arguments and providing the kids’ ways to express themselves and expend energy positively. The organization also provided her with some local store gift cards she could use to purchase some fun items to make the pandemic a little less boring.