Navigating Life’s Challenges With Help From Lunch Break

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From left, Eleanor Herdeen, Life Skills Program coordinator, Mary Ann LaSardo, operations manager, and Kathy Welch, Life Skills coach, help program participants find the training and skills for success in life. The program is offered through Lunch Break. Judy O’Gorman Alvarez

By Judy O’Gorman Alvarez

SHREWSBURY – Lunch Break, the Red Bank-based nonprofit, has offered a hot meal, a warm smile and maybe a fresh set of clothing to those in need for years. But what many may not realize is its Life Skills Program also offers business and life advice, guidance and emotional support.

The program, with an office on Route 35, provides an array of services from GED prep referrals, credit counseling, legal referrals and more to participants to help them secure and maintain meaningful employment. Partnering with local businesses, coaches also help identify and fill appropriate job opening to the benefit of both participant and employer. 

The goal of the program, according to Eleanor Herdeen, Life Skills coordinator, is to reduce the number of people that may need to rely on Lunch Break for services. 

“Our program is very different for every person that comes in,” she said. “So it’s not, you show up every Monday for five weeks and then you get a life skills certificate. The program is really whatever you want it to be and need it to be for however long you need us.”

Some participants have been working with coaches for three years and achieving milestones and making a difference in their lives.

The Life Skills Program has over 160 participants that come from all walks of life and a range of educational levels. Some are experiencing challenges including homelessness; many could use help in finding ways to meet their basic needs.

Even before a participant can land a job interview, there are often fundamental obstacles to overcome.

Mary Ann LaSardo, operations manager for the Life Skills Program, said help with creating a résumé is usually not the first item on a to-do list. “I tell people you need three things first: you need an address, you need child care and you need transportation.”

“A lot of our participants need to start on those basic life skills,” said Herdeen. “And then they can grow into and advance their skills.”

With more than 70 volunteer coaches, the program has a range of businesses and trades represented. Many coaches are retirees who come from skilled backgrounds – finance managers, real estate agents, social workers and electrical engineers – bringing with them a wealth of experience.

For example, a volunteer who ran his own business helped a participant apply for and be accepted to form an LLC (Limited Liability Company) so she could start her own business.

“And many of our coaches share similar backgrounds as the participants that they work with,” said Herdeen. “So I think when they match with a participant that they can see themselves in, they build such an incredible relationship.”

Participants, she said, think: “ ‘They were in my shoes too and look where they are now. I can do that.’ ”

When Kathy Welch of Rumson semi-retired from her job as executive vice president for a development firm, she offered to volunteer at Lunch Break’s Life Skills Program figuring that her years of business knowledge would come in handy.

“In my mind, I anticipated people coming in and needing help with résumés and looking for jobs and that sort of thing. But it really hasn’t been that at all,” she said. “It’s been much deeper.”

Welch has been coach to three participants and found each experience fulfilling. “You get to know these people and you really can have an impact on a person’s life by just by being there for them and helping them on their journey,” she said. 

Her participants were experiencing homelessness and had other issues they needed help solving. Instead of polishing their interview skills, Welch plunged into a crash course of how to secure housing and researched the various resources that are available for people who are struggling.

“It’s an ongoing relationship,” Welch said of the bond. “You try to help your participant understand the difference between a job and a career. Then try to set them on a path, so they’re not just going to be working a minimum wage job for six months and then move to a different one because they get a 25-cent raise. But to get them to really try to think about why it’s important to stay in a job for a while and the kinds of things you can do to improve your position and how you can move up.”

One of the Life Skills Program’s most celebrated participants is Amanda, who preferred not to use her last name. Amanda came through the Family Promise program, which has now merged with Lunch Break, and Welch has been working with her since October 2019. 

Welch’s role involved getting to know Amanda’s personality and making suggestions on what types of jobs might be good for her, helping her apply, then securing transportation to and from the interviews.

With Amanda, it was the right match. “She happens to be a very positive and warm person,” Welch said.

After working toward and accomplishing several goals, Amanda is now a medical assistant and is getting certified in phlebotomy. She recently purchased a car; Welch helped her with the research process, paperwork, applications and more. She and her children live in a rented home and she is now saving to buy a house.

Welch said she gives as much time as she can to her participants, keeping in mind to set boundaries – such as times of the day to call.

“You just try to be there when they really need you.”

She may offer parental advice or a pep talk or just lend an ear. “Sometimes Amanda just needs to vent. She’s a single mom with five children, some of whom are teenagers,” said Welch, whose own children are in their 20s. “So, when she calls and she’s in that frame of mind, even if I’m eating dinner or watching TV with my husband, I try to take that 15 minutes and just listen to her.”

Through Family Promise, participants can take parenting classes, among other helpful resources.

Amanda’s oldest daughter is now working with a Life Skills coach and has been able to secure a grant to help her in completing a cosmetology certificate. With urging and guidance, one of Amanda’s sons participated in the Alliance for Success program at school and recently applied to the Auto Mechanical Vocational High School. And Amanda’s seventh-grade son, an avid and talented basketball player, now plays with a local basketball team. One of his biggest supporters is Welch, who brought him to tryouts and helps with transportation.

“Kathy has definitely been there,” Amanda said. “She has been there through every step of the way. Once I got into my own apartment, and I became stable, she tried to help me further my education and even helped my kids get into groups. She’s had a big impact on my progression.”

Amanda said it’s the knowledge, the time and the access to resources that Welch and the program offered her.

She took to heart one of the first things Welch told her. “She said ‘I can help you, but you have to put in the work. I can give you all these resources, but if you don’t do anything with it, then there’s no point.’

“But I knew where I wanted to be in life,” Amanda said. “I just needed a little help finding resources and just someone being there telling me, ‘You can do this. Calm down.’ ”

She points out there are mentors and tutors available for kids and teens. “But for adults, I feel a lot of people don’t know that there are resources out there.”

A program like this, she said, is wonderful for someone who wants to “move forward in life.”

For Welch, the role of coach has been rewarding. “It’s incredibly gratifying just to help someone and, in this instance, get to know the whole family,” she said. 

She said they’ve moved from helping a mom to helping the children and making sure that their lives are better than their mother’s. “That’s a goal of Amanda’s – to make sure that her children have a better life that she has. So we’re working together. I can help, but she’s really the driver.”

The article originally appeared in the March 24 – 30, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.