A message from Yvonne Booker, CCA Director of Vocational Programs
Fellow Believers:
We have a new GED graduate!
One of our clients recently visited me in my office. When we sat down to talk she immediately pulled from an envelope a copy of her “Certificate of High School Equivalency”--her GED issued by the State of Texas. We embraced and I asked her what’s next. Her reply: “I want to continue.”
Perhaps if this were all to her story we would say “oh how great” and move on. However, after eight years on staff here at CCA I know there is always more to an individual than what is portrayed when they enter our doors. So it is with her.
She enrolled in our GED program on July 18, 2007. She visited CCA after making the decision to leave an abusive marriage. Her attendance was excellent from that time through May 19, 2008. She completed the GED preparation but did not schedule her test. We tried everything to reach her, then one day she showed up to meet with our Chaplain. I saw her and encouraged her to schedule her test. She promised she would.
Our Chaplain later shared that she had lost her housing due to the loss of her job. She found another job and her new employer offered her a room rent-free in exchange for a reduction in pay. She took the job in good faith but the employer’s intentions were not good. She shared that although she was promised a normal work schedule (8 hours daily) her employer would often wake her at 1, 2 or 3 am to do work. Her promise of a decent living arrangement was no more than a room with a mattress. Despite all of this, she was committed to taking and passing her exam.
Today not only has she received her GED she has moved to a more suitable living environment, has a new job and is trying establish a relationship with her adult daughter.
As she exited my office today she looked at me and shared, “your program works!”
My response: “God’s programs work!”
May CCA continue to be the vessel God uses to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free.
God bless you all!
