I Love my job, I love my job.......

I really do love my job, I have had a less than stellar day, but I love my job, so...Creative C has told me that blogging is great therapy. This post is for me, to help me remember why I love my job in the first place and to "get over it".

Most of you know I work for a community action agency, our main goal as an agency is to fight the war on poverty. When I started looking for a job 8 years ago, I wanted to make a difference in more lives than just Andrew and Robert's. I really wanted to make a difference in the world. I feel I do, one family at a time. My MAIN job is working with the LIHEAP program, LIHEAP stands for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. We help the elderly, disabled and low income families survive the winter cold and the summer heat. Contrary to popular belief, most of our clients have jobs, they just don't have the wages to make ends meet.

My job description doesn't really tell you what I do. We have 10 field offices in 9 counties. These 10 offices take applications for the program, put them in the Internet based computer program called LIHEAP.net. They take the basic information on the clients and fill out all the necessary paperwork. This time of year, they average taking about 60 applications per week per office (do the math, that's about 600 apps a week!). When the end of the week comes, those applications all come to me. Between me and our LIHEAP clerk (who has been out sick since the beginning of September) we check all the apps to make sure everything the state requires for the grant is in the application. Then I put them all on a register in the LIHEAP.net system. Basically, if you apply for LIHEAP, I get to be the one to say it is okay for you to get it. At this point, my supervisor works with the money part and the utility companies to get these grants out.

LIHEAP.net can be a trial in itself. Like most computer programs, it can only do so much and there are times you have to finagle it to do what you want it to do. I have kinda of made a reputation for myself as goto girl when you need to manipualte the program. I have to admit it makes me feel good when our grants manager from Springfield calls and asks me how to do something. (yes, I'm bragging just a bit--remember I've had a bad day and need an ego boost).

For the last 3 years we have also administered the Keep Warm Illinois program. This is a consumer education program where we go out into the community and teach people how to be more energy efficient. The last 2 years I have done the presentations for that. I really like doing that because I feel I am making a difference there too. I have learned many things for our own knowledge too, simple little things like vacuuming out the coils on your fridge and making sure you change your furnace filter or at least check it every month. One of my favorite tips is when you are doing laundry. While you are folding the clothes out of the dryer, set your washer for an extra spin cycle. That 3 minutes of spin can save you up to 25 minutes of drying time in the dryer.

I have just recently started working with the PIPP program, this is a Perecentage of Income Payment Program that is in conjunction with the Ameren companies. This is what has caused all of my problems today. Our computer system isn't working exactly right and there are days it can become very frustrating. I hate having to ask for help anyway and today when I contacted my "helpful" person in Springfield, I wasn't very happy with his behavior or his "help" and this happened at 7:05 this morning. I kinda blew a gasket and it is a good thing Springfield is 2 hours away...anyway...deep breaths, deep cleansing breaths..........

PIPP will eventually be a great program (okay, I have more faith in it than my boss does, we decided that probably keeps us balanced on it) The deal with PIPP is people who have Ameren and are all electric household can choose to do the PIPP program instead of traditional LIHEAP. On the PIPP program, they pay 10% of their income to Ameren each month, they are set up on budget billing and we pay what is over 10%. This helps those who are seriously trying to get out of poverty use their extra income to pay other bills, keep the vehicles running so they can get to work, keep clothes on their kids' backs. It also helps them learn to pay their bills every month. Along with the program is financial counseling. I feel this is the greatest part of the program, where we can truly help people live on a budget. (Of course I am a "budgetaholic" my budget right now is done through next March).

Now for those things that aren't the main part of my job, but still very important to me:

I get to teach computer classes to our clients who are wanting better jobs but don't have the computer skills necessary. This is called an Employment Resource Lab class so I also teach resume writing and job search skills. One night during the classes, Andrew comes up and does mock interviews with our clients. This last summer I taught a class specifically for Experience Works, a sister agency who helps those 55 and older find jobs. My oldest student just turned 88 and is very proud that she knows her way around a computer (and yes, she does have a job!)

Another little side thing I do is the agency website http://www.erbainc.org/ I revamped it a couple of years ago and now I keep it up to date. I am getting ready to teach another girl in the office how to do this next month. It has a couple of things that needs to come down, hopefully on Monday, I've been a little busy (remember 600 apps a week).

That's it, that's my job. Why do I love my job?

Last week on the phone, when I told an elderly woman who had just lost her husband that we could help her pay her bills and that the girls in our offices would even help her get things changed over to her own name, she cried. She had no idea how to do any of this stuff, he had done everything. I know she hung up feeling not quite so alone.

A lady came in my office several years ago, when I was still in the Olney office. She had just made the decision to make her abusive husband move out. She didn't fear for her life as much as she did for her children ages 3,4 &5. She had no income as she had stayed home while he was an executive with a local company. She had no clue where to even start but she knew she couldn't handle her children being in danger. Today, she is a school teacher in a neighboring county. She has three of the brightest kids I have ever seen and they are all happy and healthy and well taken care of. She credits the day she walked into our office as one of the best decisions she ever made in her life.

My very first night of my very first class, a young woman walked into my class, looked at me and said, "I am so nervous, I think I am going to puke". I laughed and said, "I know exactly what you mean". During the time she was in my class her young daughter made a statement that she wanted to grow up to be a bartender just like her mommy. This broke this girls heart and she decided right then and there, if she could handle my class she could go back to college. She started college that fall, and imagine her surprise when she went to get her computers textbook. It was the same book we used! Her assignments were even the same. She is now in her second year of college studying business administration. She has already had job offers for when she gets out of school and actually volunteers in one of our offices.

Yes, all of that far outweighs the little dimwit I had to deal with in Springfield today. And yes, C, you are very right, I am feeling much better. I probably bored everyone to tears but oh well. I guess every once in while we ought to be able to do something for ourselves. :-)