Legacy of Hope has been so blessed by our staff and the hearts they have for the children we serve. This month we are highlighting Claudia as our LOH Person of the Month. Claudia first came on with Legacy of Hope as weekend nighttime help for the Spanglers when the kids weren’t sleeping through the night. But as the kids got older and no longer needed over night care, Claudia filled in as extra kitchen help for a time before being brought on as full-time staff when Sophia Fitzgibbon opened the crisis care center. Within the craziness that is crisis care, Claudia really found her niche and is thriving! She makes a daily impact on the fractured lives that pass through our Casa Segura (recently renamed from Centro de Paso).
The hardest part of the job for Claudia is seeing the condition in which the children arrive—the state of malnutrition, the bruises from abuse. And it gets even harder when those children return to us again and again because they are placed back into the detrimental situation over and over.
However, through the challenges and broken hearts, Claudia explained that the thing she enjoys most about working in the crisis care center is doing activities with the children and watching their improvement. It’s during this time that she is able to ask them about their life experiences and highlight the good memories so they can see through their current situation for a time and heal.
It’s Claudia’s strength and sensitivity that both work together to conquer the situations that arise in the crisis care center. There are many hard things that she has to work through each day, but she is also able to take a step into the crisis with the child to be sure that they know they have a champion rooting for them and encouraging them along the way. “There was a 9-year-old boy named Maycol,” Claudia remembered, “that was very sensitive and would always cry for his father. I would cry with him.” It is a heart like this that makes Claudia so special and perfect for Casa Segura.
We are so thankful for everything Claudia does and the children’s hearts she touches! Thanks for getting to know Claudia! Stay tuned for our next newsletter for an introduction of another person vital to the work we do here at Legacy of Hope Foundation.