This month we spoke with Rebecca Farley to learn more about her story and what brought her to Thrive. Rebecca moved to Central Oregon 8 years ago to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. When she isn’t spending time with her family you can usually find her hiking or playing the piano.

When Rebecca first moved to Central Oregon, she was working at a grocery store, but due to COVID and other health issues, she was unable to continue working there. Rebecca began receiving disability but it made it difficult for her to afford rent, so she began looking for financial resources to help. She reached out to several organizations which is how she heard about Thrive. When Rebecca heard about Thrive, she immediately looked up the walk-in schedule and went to the soonest walk-in at Canal Commons. When she got there, she met with Peter, one of Thrive’s bilingual community outreach advocates. When asked how her experience was with Peter she said, “Peter was incredibly empathetic and articulate. He was also very quick about getting back to me and updating me on what was going on.” Rebecca appreciated how proactive Peter was about helping her. He not only helped her get rental assistance when she was in a time crunch, but he also referred her to Worksource so she could get support in finding a job.

Rebecca is extremely grateful for all Peter and Thrive did for her. She said, “At a time of feeling very hopeless, Thrive provided me with relief and encouragement to get back in the workforce.” She wants everyone to know that there are such good people out there, like Peter, who want to help and whom she considers hidden angels. A piece of advice that she has for others is, “Reach out and take time to meet with someone at Thrive. Take a breath and know that Thrive and others are there to help.” Another practical piece of advice she wants to give to others is to have all your paperwork together when you are going to meet with an advocate for rental assistance or other assistance. Being prepared with the documents you need for rental assistance or other things makes the process a lot easier for everyone.

Rebecca is grateful to know that there are real organizations out there who want to help because she did not know this before working with Thrive. She is also hopeful that other people who might be in similar situations to her can receive support and have the same positive experience that she did.

Some quotes she wants to share are

Thank you for sharing your story with us Rebecca!