The Brown’s come to the Food Pantry occasionally and participated in the Back-To-School program. For the most part they take care of their family without much assistance from social service agencies. While signing the children up for the Back-To-School program, Mrs. Brown asked staff if they knew of any Money Management classes.Staff explained to her that Money Management classes are a part of the services the Once Around Shop offers. Mr. and Mrs. Brown scheduled an appointment and staff gave them some worksheets to complete before they came to the meeting.

The day of the meeting, the Brown’s came to the Once Around Shop with papers in hand ready to get started on developing a plan. During the meeting, they both revealed that neither of them had any instruction on how to set a budget and their finances clearly reflected that fact. Staff talked to them about what was important to them and what they would like to see out of a budget. Goals were set, homework was given, and sacrifices were going to have to be made in order to make their budget work.

A month later, Mrs. Brown came back in to review with staff the progress they had made and it was apparent to staff that Mrs. Brown was proud of their accomplishments; she held her head up and spoke with more confidence. Mrs. Brown thanked staff for the guidance and said with confidence, “I think we have developed a path that we can stick to and it is comforting to know that our bills are being paid and on time”.