A Remarkably Normal Life

When asked a question, Brandon buries his head behind mommy in expected bashfulness. A few minutes later he’s rolling a ball as big as he is to everyone in the room. Before long he grabs mommy’s hand, tugging her up from the couch to show her something in the next room, then sits on her lap for comfort as he rests from his long day of play.

Nothing extraordinary, just a typical experience between a mom and her child, but for Patty Gnefkow, advocate coordinator at Gerard House, it’s these normal moments between Vanessa and Brandon that truly reveal an astonishing success. If it hadn’t been for the support she received from the Gerard House, this success could so easily have turned to disappointment for this 17-year-old and her two-year-old son.

“Coming here was a stepping point between where I am today and the wrong path,” Vanessa recalls.

The Gerard House (which is receiving first-time United Way funding in 2005) is a home for pregnant teenagers and adults that offers a caring and supportive environment designed to help young ladies through a difficult time in their lives.

“In most cases, as was with Vanessa, these young ladies’ decision-making skills aren’t as fine-tuned as they need to be,” says Gnefkow. “We help accelerate this process in their maturity because right away these girls will be responsible to care for another person.”

While here, girls get basic needs training and also go through parenting classes that help them develop life skills necessary to care for their baby as well as how to give CPR, how to detect domestic violence and understand legal issues relating to mothers and babies.

Gnefkow recalls Vanessa being scared and unsure about her future when she first came.

“I remember thinking that I was going to be here for the next eight months and being scared of the unknown,” Vanessa says. “But the staff became my family and gave me a support system that provided the trust and respect to fulfill my life.”

Vanessa was determined and quickly set goals…for graduating, being a good mom and becoming independent. Today, Vanessa is living on her own, caring for Brandon, working, is on schedule to graduate high school in May, and is already making plans to attend college and major in some type of business.

“I was forced to grow up so quickly and they really helped me become more independent,” says Vanessa confidently. “They helped me develop into the young women that I am today.”

A successful young women according to Gnefkow. 

“Vanessa is a lovely young lady, a wonderful mother and an independent, productive citizen,” Gnefkow says. “We knew she had a long, hard road ahead of her, but we also knew from the moment she came that Vanessa was going to be a success story.”

Tomorrow will be another normal day for Brandon and Vanessa, and that’s what makes this story so wonderfully unexpected.

See column at right to find out more about how your support of United Way of the Plains is helping our community.

More Stories: click here.

United Way impacts the issues that matter.

Issue:
Teenage pregnancy is very high in Sedgwick County compared to nationally.

United Way Actions:
United Way’s commitment to fund programs that get results led United Way to allocate first-time funds to the Gerard House, a home that focuses on the issue of helping provide support and basic needs to expecting moms.

Results:
There is a lower recurrence of pregnancy among the ladies that go through the Gerard House.

Meeting Basic Needs is one of four community impact areas that United Way of the Plains formed to address the issues that matter to this community.

See other programs funded in "Meeting Basic Needs" impact area: click here.