As the saying goes, it takes a village to help meet the needs of our most vulnerable and hard-to-serve residents. This is an example of that cross-collaboration, where team effort and dedication make the difference.
I have a bit of good work-related news.
One of my clients, [client name redacted], from Santa Barbara GR, who was referred in Oct. 2017, was finally approved for SSI on 3/12/21. It took me 10 months to actually get to file his claim, in part because he is homeless and drinks and keeping appointments with me or a doctor does not fit well into his lifestyle.
He worked with GR EWs Charlie Arras and Melissa Frausto and they both deserve credit for their work on this case.
If it had not been for Mr. Arras, I probably would never have met [client] because he seldom followed through with appointments. One day I was in Santa Barbara and Mr. Arras just asked me if he could introduce me to a client who was with him at the time – and a connection was made.
Ms. Frausto helped me to find [client] on several occasions or would pass messages to him when I was not able to reach him.
I know both of these workers went above and beyond on this case so that I would be able to assist him.
We have a few other cases like this that we have been working on for a long time. I hope that hearing of the successful outcome of [client]'s case will charge our batteries and remind us that persistence often works and that teamwork helps a lot.
A big THANK YOU to Melissa and Charlie!