How you feel  before your morning coffee.

“My outlook before LIFT was grim, dreary...”

Myron Frost had been working for the same company for 37 years when he was suddenly laid off...

Read more about Myron's story

Here today, and jobless tomorrow. 

You've moved between so many jobs, the only constant is the soft whir of the revolving door.

What he felt: 

After years of bouncing between jobs and struggling with drug addiction, Anthony Johnson had completed drug therapy and rehabilitation and had worked hard to maintain his spot at a transitional housing facility.

 We all want to be heard!

You know what I mean? Oh. Oooooooooookay.

A reduced income from unemployment checks and food stamps to support forced Van Lewis to relocate to a shelter.

“LIFT listened to what I had to say and helped me come up with a plan.  I was involved in the decision making.”

Listen to the rest of Van's story here.

You've run out of connections. 

You've racked your brain. You've asked everyone you know for help finding work. Twice.  

Now, the only thing to do is to apply to the cosmos. Only rarely does someone call back. 

What he felt:

I’m not always confident that recruiters online always get my emails, because some don't send emails back saying so."

Read more about Myron Frost here.

It can't be.  You're one of the valued ones. 

You have standards and expectations and this kind of thing just doesn't happen  to you. 

Now it has.  

What he felt:

"I felt pushed out."  Myron Frost had been working for the same company for 37 years when he was suddenly laid off...

Read more about Myron's story

Woohoo! 

It's Friday and it's sunny and everything is right for one blissful moment, however fleeting.  

Things may just work out! Then they actually do! 

How he felt.

 She made me cry. And at the end of the day she gave me encouragement to get up out of that hole is was in.”

-Keven, LIFT Chicago Member

Watch his story here

You are so in over your head.

Not only are you overwhelmed, you are silenced by the rising tide.

It's like Hurricane Sandy hit 5h1t's Creek. 

How he felt: 

“You know I feel kind of dumb and drowning.”

-Carlos, LIFT member

Watch Carlos' story here

There is no feeling more empowering than that of accomplishment. 

LIFT-Chicago client Sharon Rapoport is not your ordinary 66 year old. Sharon was recently accepted into the Peace Corps and will depart for Ghana, Africa in June 2013 to teach art to deaf students. After working on her Peace Corps application for over a year with LIFT student advocates, Sharon will fulfill her lifelong dream of serving abroad.

Read more about her here.

You're on hold and the music has repeated for the 22nd time

Are you feeling good? Not so much.

How he felt: 

Gary Farmer had been steadily employed in the travel industry for over 20 years.

When the recession hit, Gary lost his job like so many others. He did not know how he was going to manage.

Read more about Gary's story here. 

 How you felt when you paid your rent on your own for the first time.

What it feels like to close your own door and throw the lock. 

What she felt: 

When Phyllis Newman walked into LIFT-DC, she had just missed another payment on her mortgage and was dreading the thought of losing her home.  

A few weeks after her first appointment, Phyllis called the LIFT-DC office to inform the volunteers that she had secured a new job. She can now afford her mortgage payments.

More of her story is found here.  

You're it, until you're not. 

It's like surprise and hurt combines to form a stunning sense of blankness.

What he felt: 

“It was the hardest part of my life when I first started coming [to LIFT]. I was used to success and defeat kind of slapped me in the face. You lose your family, you lose your job and your health goes bad all in a 6 month period and you get kind of disoriented.”

Hear more of Keven's story here.

You might have a jerky start, but then you surprise yourself.  

Life is a breeze that you can harness.  

The wind is at your back. You're sailing. 

What she felt:

 Fay Mason got help practicing for job interviews at LIFT.

“When I got to the interview, I sailed right through it with confidence in myself.”

Read more here.

You're work is cut out for you, even if you're not cut out for the work.

It happens when you need it to be Friday on a Tuesday.

What he felt: 

Van Lewis faced an uphill battle.

After being turned away from various overburdened agencies or placed on various waitlists and shuffled between caseworkers—even losing his place on a waitlist because his paperwork was lost in the process of a caseworker transition—Van received a referral to LIFT.

Hey, pal! Don't waste your breath. 

This is the feeling you get when you don't know why you even bother.

You keep knocking, but you can't come in.   

When people struggling with poverty seek help they often report feeling like they're talking to a blank wall.

Hear about how LIFT Chicago knocks down that wall. 

Hi. Nice to meet you. Umm. First, you're going to need to fill out this form. 

What she felt: 

 "I was literally just a case number." 

A veteran returned from duty, Rosa Carty was struck by a car walking from door-to-door as a census taker.  When she needed help most as a person, the bureaucracy failed to treat her like one. 

Read more here

“I was literally a case number” - Rosa Carty

“I was literally a case number” - Rosa Carty

“I was literally a case number” - Rosa Carty

“I was literally a case number” - Rosa Carty

Sometimes you can control your life. Other times, life controls you. 

You're forced into autopilot. You're forced to give in. 

How she felt:

 After job losses, a painful, bitter separation from her husband, the deaths of several family members, and a diagnosis of breast cancer, Angela Allen was left to wonder who would take care of her.

“You know how when you go to a carwash and you put the car in neutral and give up all control?  I was that car.”

See how Angela fared here.