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Natasha Shepherd

“I think everybody needs assistance sometime. We’re fortunate that there are people you can go to for help.” 
        --Natasha Shepherd

 
Five-year-old Arionna is ready for kindergarten, in part because her single mother, Natasha Shepherd, was able to find affordable child care through a United Way-supported service. 
 
Natasha was in her late teens, working at a department store and looking forward to finishing her four-year degree in nursing when she became pregnant. In that moment, the course of Natasha’s life changed forever in ways both challenging and joyful. College was eventually put on hold. Work outside of nursing became paramount. Finding daycare for her daughter was essential. The journey, she knew, would test her.
 
“Just being young and working at a retail store – financially, I knew it would be difficult,” she says.
 
One of her greatest comforts – besides the support of family members – became the United Way-supported Early Childhood Learning Center. A sliding fee scale helped her afford Arionna’s child care at the center and allowed Natasha to keep working to support her daughter. The center also gave Arionna a foundation for kindergarten, helping her learn numbers and letters, and developing her social and emotional maturity.
 
“Coming here was excellent because before we were at a different daycare that I couldn’t really afford, so I was afraid of her not having an education,” Natasha says. “It’s been great for us to be here and I’m fortunate that I found it.”
 
Natasha has great dreams for Arionna and sees her one day graduating college and achieving her goals: “She is first in my life. I just want her to be happy.” Natasha, who now works as an assistant bank branch manager, also hasn’t given up on her own dreams; she’s completed two years at Ivy Tech and plans to return soon to finish that long-sought nursing degree.
 
“I think everybody needs assistance sometime,” Natasha says. “We’re fortunate that there are people you can go to to get help.” 

 

Indiana 211

 

Learn United is a community effort to improve the reading skills of children across Allen County. Visit www.learnunited.org for more information, or call 260-469-4030.

2010 Day of Caring
Day of Caring will take place on Thursday, August 12, 2010 with kick-off breakfast at the Headwaters West Lincoln Pavilion. Click here for information about participating.

American Pride Ride
The 9th Annual American Pride Ride is scheduled for Saturday, September 11, 2010. The Yahtzee Motorcyle Ride, hosted by local Organized Labor, raises money for United Way of Allen County. Click here to see the poster.

Goals for the Common Good
United Way's assessment of community conditions and how to address important community  needs. Download report.

FamilyWize
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