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WHAT PEOPLE SAY
In this household, an uncle living with the family contracted the virus and subsequently gave the virus to everyone living in the house. Shortly after, the uncle passed away, and the family, being unable to work, could not pay for his funeral. Everyone stayed in quarantine for months and their resources were being rapidly depleted. The school the children attended here in White Plains reached out to us at El Centro Hispano to see if there was anything we could do for the family. Immediately, El Centro wrote the family a check from our Assistance Fund which they used to pay a portion of their rent. Although money provided temporary relief, they still needed our help. The family then began to receive fresh fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products from us twice a week during our food distributions. The family is currently in recovery and is still receiving food from us.
A single mother with a toddler was diagnosed with the virus and her friend, hoping to find some emergency help for the mother, reached out to El Centro Hispano. The child attended the daycare program at the Rochambeau Alternative High School, and once the school confirmed this, El Centro Hispano wrote a check to the mother from our Assistance Fund. Weeks went by and she had not cashed the check; we were concerned and decided to reach out and see if everything was okay with her. It turns out that the poor mother had given the check directly to her landlord to pay a portion of her rent so she would not get evicted. Her priority was to make sure she and her child still had a roof over their heads.
This family was recommended by their children’s school to receive financial assistance. Once El Centro received the required documents, we sent them a check. Every family who received a check was supposed to call El Centro once they cashed it. However, this family did neither. We had no way to contact them and it wasn’t until weeks later that the family made contact again. A short while after they had received their check, the family had fallen ill with the virus. The whole family was out for so long, that their phone lines were cut and had no form of communication. When they were able to cash the check, they immediately paid their phone bill and call El Centro to thank us for the financial assistance.
