{"id":225,"date":"2026-04-16T15:18:57","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/?p=225"},"modified":"2026-04-16T15:18:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T15:18:57","slug":"ive-walked-in-their-shoes-meet-amanda-a-fresh-start-staffer-who-helps-guests-reach-stability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/?p=225","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;I\u2019ve walked in their shoes&#8217;: Meet Amanda, a FRESH Start staffer who helps guests reach stability"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"blog-content\">\n<div><div class=\"wsite-image wsite-image-border-none\" style=\"padding-top:10px;padding-bottom:10px;margin-left:0px;margin-right:0px;text-align:center\"> <a> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Picture\" src=\"https:\/\/www.lccm.us\/uploads\/1\/2\/5\/2\/125258056\/published\/amanda-h-2.jpg?1583522405\" style=\"width:auto;max-width:100%\"\/> <\/a> <div style=\"display:block;font-size:90%\">Photo: Katie Dudding, Lebanon Valley College, 2021<\/div> <\/div><\/div> <div class=\"paragraph\"><br\/>\u200bAmanda has been working at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lccm.us\/emergency-shelter.html\" target=\"_blank\">FRESH Start Emergency Shelter and Resource Center <\/a>for three years but volunteered for a year prior to accepting a job offer. She is a supportive services coordinator, a job which entails walking alongside of guests as they work to achieve their goals.<br\/><br\/>Amanda works with clients one-on-one as they set their own personal goals and work on life skills such as cooking and budgeting. Her job is to build them back up and get them on their feet again so they are ready for the world.\u00a0<\/div> <div><div style=\"height: 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 100%;\"><\/div> <hr class=\"styled-hr\" style=\"width:100%;\"\/> <div style=\"height: 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 100%;\"><\/div><\/div> <h2 class=\"wsite-content-title\"><font size=\"3\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lccm.us\/emergency-shelter.html\" target=\"_blank\">FRESH Start<\/a>\u00a0discharged 130 people into housing last year. Your donations are critical to families and individuals in Lebanon County who are facing homelessness. Click the button to find out ways you can give today.\u00a0<\/font><\/h2> <div style=\"text-align:center;\"><div style=\"height: 10px; overflow: hidden;\"><\/div> <a class=\"wsite-button wsite-button-small wsite-button-normal\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lccm.us\/donations.html\" target=\"_blank\"> <span class=\"wsite-button-inner\">Give today<\/span> <\/a> <div style=\"height: 10px; overflow: hidden;\"><\/div><\/div> <div><div style=\"height: 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 100%;\"><\/div> <hr class=\"styled-hr\" style=\"width:100%;\"\/> <div style=\"height: 20px; overflow: hidden; width: 100%;\"><\/div><\/div> <div class=\"paragraph\">When it comes to why she volunteers and works for LCCM, Amanda\u2019s reasoning is nothing short of selfless.<br\/>\u200b<br\/>\u201cI do this to make an impact on someone\u2019s life and to know someone might not be eating today and this might be their only meal,\u201d she said. \u201cI do the paid position because this was my own call to help others.\u201d<br\/><br\/><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lccm.us\/news\/fresh-start-a-safe-haven-for-mom-3-kids\" target=\"_blank\">FRESH Start a safe haven for mom, 3 kids<\/a><br\/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.lccm.us\/news\/how-60-days-at-the-lebanon-county-christian-ministries-emergency-shelter-helped-one-man-save-money-secure-a-full-time-job\" target=\"_blank\">How 60 days at FRESH Start helped one man secure money, a full-time job<br\/>\u200b<\/a><br\/>The reasoning being why she chose LCCM in the first place is because she has walked in the same shoes as the ones she\u2019s helping now. She had just given birth to her youngest daughter and was without a job. Interviews were falling through, so she started volunteering for noon meals and eventually, Wenda, a case supervisor, pulled Amanda\u2019s resume out of a case file and offered her a job.<br\/><br\/>One of her favorite parts of her job is seeing familiar faces in the lobby and ask her for help.<br\/><br\/>\u201cI\u2019m the support system for them, whether they\u2019re here or not,&#8221; she said. &#8220;Every client, I\u2019ve walked in their shoes, been homeless and hungry. The Lord has found a way for me to stay out of that predicament.\u201d<\/div> <div class=\"paragraph\"><strong>Written by Lauren Schrott\u00a0<\/strong><strong><\/strong><em style=\"color:rgb(0, 0, 0)\"><br\/><\/em><em style=\"color:rgb(0, 0, 0)\">Lebanon County Christian Ministries is working in conjunction\u00a0with Lebanon Valley College students to tell the story of LCCM through the lens of its volunteers, guests, staff and board throughout the season of Lent.<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo: Katie Dudding, Lebanon Valley College, 2021 \u200bAmanda has been working at FRESH Start Emergency Shelter and Resource Center for three years but volunteered for a year prior to accepting a job offer. She is a supportive services coordinator, a job which entails walking alongside of guests as they work to achieve their goals. Amanda [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":226,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","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\/225","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=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/heuristic-yonath.40-160-33-16.plesk.page\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}