 |
| "Do they always look like that?" No, it was Halloween! From left: Luis, Alivia, and Kasha. |
I wanted to share an email that a client sent about Luis Beltran. I’m really proud of the collaboration that Luis and Kasha Pope have had with this client. This is CalWORKs 2.0 all the way! The impact Luis has made with her speaks for itself in the letter, and the assistance Kasha has given along the way helped build a great rapport with her. Our very own AmeriCorps member Alivia Alessi got to be part of this experience as she shadowed both of these workers to help out. Again, I’m very proud of them for helping this client in her journey to be self-sufficient. Read on for the client's letter!
To whom this may concern,
My name is [client name]. I am a client who has had the privilege and honor of working with Mr. Luis Beltran. This letter is the absolute least I could do to repay my gratitude for his kindness, genuineness, care and dedication he has demonstrated while working with me.
To understand the magnitude and significance of how important it is to have worked with Luis, I must first explain how humbling and humiliating it feels to be in a situation where one goes from having a few businesses, enough money to do whatever it is I wanted to with my family whenever I wanted, and a roof over my head that I maintained for 20 years, to being homeless instantly as a result of domestic abuse, and living in a shelter for a year only to be given notice that my stay there had terminated with less than 30 days to find permanent housing with a Section 8 voucher.
Luis did more for me in our short time together than the two other agencies I was working with prior to being assigned to him. Luis treated me with more dignity and respect, first as a human being, second as a mother third as a survivor of domestic abuse, and finally as a person that was just down on their luck temporarily. Luis served as a beacon of Hope at a time when I really didn't have much hope. He was my cheerleader and my hero. He was able to carry hope for me and my situation when I didn't have the strength to carry it on my own. He was always positive. Luis is the poster child for how other government agencies should be. He is the model of how to treat others as if it were his own family member going through it.
After having dealt with the domestic violence agency I was with, a little bit of dignity that I had, I felt was stripped away. Luis, through his compassion and care and respect for me, helped restore my own confidence and sense of pride. It's impossible to sit with Luis, and Kasha Pope, and not leave feeling like a winner.
Luis has a reputation that precedes him in the community. For example, I was on Facebook, in the in the mommy group for Santa Barbara, and I posted a request for assistance to look for housing. Some of the comments that came back said to reach out to someone named Luis Beltran, and that he'd be very instrumental in assisting me. They spoke of him with such high regard.
His kindness and his genuine care for his clients are unprecedented. I speak of his clients, not just me, because one day as I was buckling my infant in her car seat after our meeting, I just happened to be speaking with a gentleman who was also a former client of Luis. This gentleman went on about how Luis bent over backward to take up the slack to help him when his own case worker gave him the runaround and wouldn't get back to him in a timely manner. What Luis did to assist this gentleman was so impactful because he made sure to acknowledge that it was not something Luis was required to do, but something he felt compassionate enough to help with anyway.
I love how the different programs work together, CalWORKs and the housing program. I felt like I had a dream team, personalized to help me succeed with both Luis and Kasha Pope working together and collaborating. Just not having to give the same information over and over again, but having everyone there at the same time to gather case management information at once speaks volumes of how well-organized and efficient the leadership is in each department. (I am a firm believer that the body can only flow as good as its head. In other words if leadership is jacked up, not much else can be expected of those who work under their direction.)
In closing, thank you so much for hiring Luis. He's touched not only my life, and my family's life, but others in the community as well.
--A Client