Widening the Circle

Widening the Circle

Pictured above: Melodie Tucker (center, red vest) smiles joyfully as graduates celebrate. Story by Tom James.

     Melodie Tucker grew up in a home that valued budgeting and money management, and she reached adulthood with sound financial habits and confidence in her ability to thrive in this world. She married, as many of us do, with the hope of working from that solid foundation and building a secure home for her family. Sadly, those plans didn't work out. After years in a difficult and sometimes abusive marriage, she was left with massive debt, low self-image and an ex-husband who refused to contribute to raising or supporting their children beyond the barest minimum required by law. The grief of a failed marriage and the helplessness of her financial situation sent most of that early training by the wayside. Melodie knew that she had to get back to her upbringing, but without a local support structure, she knew she would need help to get there. Trapped in her new life of part-time jobs and low wages, she discovered Circle of Hope.

     At "Circle", Melodie found a community that offered neither derision nor judgement, but compassion and support. Instead of the typical hierarchies of power, she found a community willing to surround her and walk with her on the hard path to financial security. The core of this path is the Getting Ahead money management class, offered over a fifteen-week period. Following completion of the class, the real transformation happens further down the road, during the following 18 months, when Melodie, as the Circle Leader, was matched with two Volunteer Allies who committed to being her sounding board, her advisor, her confidant and her friend.

     With new-found confidence, and armed with some new tools, Melodie graduated from the Getting Ahead class and was able to return to her early training of maintaining financial security. Yes, Melodie's story had a happy ending, an ending that has been repeated many times in the fifteen years that Peace Connections has offered the Getting Ahead classes and the Circle of Hope support structure. But her story doesn’t

end there. Melodie, empowered by her own success and determined to give back to her new-found community, become an ally herself, committing another eighteen months of her time and treasure to the progress and success of a new circle leader!

     That in itself, is a huge act of transformation. However, there was one more role left in the Circle of Hope program, and one more way for Melodie to show her dedication and commitment to her newfound community - actually facilitating the Getting Ahead class, which she did in 2023/2024!

Success breeds success, it seems. That is the power of the Bridges Out of Poverty process. The strength and depth of Melodie’s engagement has inspired a new wave of class sign-ups and ally volunteerism. As the old song reminds us - the circle will not just be unbroken, it will continue on, circling all of us into our common human bond.

 

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