September 11, 2001 changed many lives in many ways. For Kim, the change was economic: she lost her job when her company merged and downsized. A single mother, Kim urgently needed to work and she came to our Women’s Resource Center for help with her job search and resume. With the encouragement and emotional support of her Fresh Start mentor, she soon found a job.
A year later, though gainfully employed, Kim looked in the mirror and did not like the woman she saw: an overweight smoker with dental problems so severe that she could not laugh or smile without fearing that people would stare at her teeth. Wanting to be a positive role model for her.
aughter, Kim lost over 60 pounds and quit smoking. Her teeth, however, were a problem that willpower could not solve.
Through Fresh Start, Kim was accepted into the Smiles 4 Success program, a nonprofit collaboration of Valley dentists that provides free dental work to women who need it. She received 15 veneers, 3 crowns, 3 fillings, 1 implant, 4 root canals, a bleaching and cleaning work valued at over $33,000. Kim now volunteers as the Recipient Liaison for Smiles 4 Success and has devoted many hours to promote the program.
Today Kim is working on furthering her career. She recently accepted a new position that will pay her nearly double her current salary and offers medical and dental insurance for her and her daughter. But the biggest lesson learned through her experiences with Fresh Start is that she IS worth more. She IS worth a job that pays well, she IS worth the goals and dreams she longs for and she IS worth taking care of. She realizes now that to be the best mother she can be means she must take care of herself first and she is working hard to do so.