{"id":128,"date":"2026-04-16T15:17:43","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/?p=128"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:17:43","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:17:43","slug":"ashley-came-to-lccm-for-help-with-food-and-a-water-bill-9-months-later-she-has-a-ged-and-a-phlebotomy-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/?p=128","title":{"rendered":"Ashley came to LCCM for help with food and a water bill. 9 months later, she has a GED and a phlebotomy certification."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Ashley, left, and LCCM upLIFT coach, Lesvi Vazquez, celebrate after Ashley received her GED.<\/div> <\/div><\/div>
Ashley came to Lebanon County Christian Ministries a year ago looking for help with food and a water bill. Little did she know at the time that this encounter would lead to getting her GED and becoming certified as a phlebotomist.That encounter with LCCM\u2019s Market on 7th charitable food pantry, and upLIFT lite, LCCM\u2019s utility payment assistance program, led to enrolling in the long-term upLIFT coaching program with coach Lesvi Vazquez.\u200b\u201cI was just trying to find a way to get back into financial stability,\u201d said Ashley, a single mother of two girls, ages 11 and 4.\u00a0<\/div>
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Trying to take care of her two children, one of whom has health issues, and needing to move, led to mounting medical and electric bills that put her behind. Working part-time, she could not keep up with the basic costs of living. \u00a0\u00a0With no GED, her options were limited for work.\u200bWhen she entered the upLIFT program, her first goal was to get on her electric company\u2019s payment assistance program and get subsidized child care. With her financial situation more stable, Ashley could now put her focus on obtaining her GED and enrolling in phlebotomy courses through WEPA Empowerment Center, a workforce and education training center in downtown Lebanon.\u00a0<\/div> <\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><\/div>
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\u201cLCCM put me through WEPA and because of them I was able to achieve my goals of getting my GED and phlebotomy career,\u201d she said. \u201cI just graduated and it feels great. The whole positive outcome is that I have my career and GED that I didn\u2019t get until I was 30 years old. It\u2019s a great achievement, all because of LCCM. Lesvi pushed and motivated me and made sure I didn\u2019t procrastinate. I tried getting my GED four other times before.\u201dAshley\u2019s motivation for entering the health care field stems from losing her husband to cancer. She is drawn to working in oncology or at a private practice.And the road over the last year to achieve her goals didn\u2019t come without challenges, but it was important to Ashley that she showed up to every session with Lesvi on time, even when she didn\u2019t feel like it.\u201cWhen we set a day and time, I showed up, and that\u2019s what was most important to me,\u201d she said. \u201cI have a hard time showing up for things that will get me better. I let life take over. I had a lot on my plate, more than I thought I could handle, but I handled it.\u201d<\/div> <\/td>
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Ashley, left, draws blood from her LCCM upLIFT coach, Lesvi Vazquez, at WEPA Empowerment Center’s phlebotomy course. Ashley just graduated in February.<\/div> <\/div><\/div> <\/td> <\/tr> <\/tbody> <\/table> <\/div><\/div><\/div>
Working with Lesvi gave her the motivation to tackle each small step one by one, and she credits conversations, logistical planning and resource sharing by Lesvi with helping her to succeed and stay on track.<\/span>\u201cOverall, with the whole program and going to school, I learned to be a little more humble and patient. I have more confidence in myself because I wanted to give up a million times on this journey,\u201d she said.<\/span>Shopping with Lesvi for food at Grocery Outlet, LCCM\u2019s upLIFT partner, gave Ashley the opportunity to learn how to budget appropriately and stock up on items.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cI learned how to budget. I was calculating in my head all the time,\u201d she said. \u201cShopping with Lesvi was just like hanging out with a friend.\u201d<\/span>As Ashley begins to plan for the next phase of life, she has some advice for the next group of upLIFT members.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cJust have faith and keep showing up, no matter how you feel,\u201d she said. \u201cGod is always there. No matter how down you feel, or don\u2019t think you have enough food for the night or how you\u2019ll feed your kids, or how to deal with your emotions. Just show up. Do not give up.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u200b<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ashley, left, and LCCM upLIFT coach, Lesvi Vazquez, celebrate after Ashley received her GED. Ashley came to Lebanon County Christian Ministries a year ago looking for help with food and a water bill. Little did she know at the time that this encounter would lead to getting her GED and becoming certified as a phlebotomist. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}