Lives Changed.

Wanda Valle

Wanda Valle is a single mother raising two teenage girls. After losing her Mother, she found herself searching for ways to heal. “When my mother passed away that hit me really hard. My mother was more than my friend, she inspired me. I miss cooking with her, arguing with her. I miss all that. I got into a deep depression after I lost her, because we were very close. I don’t have that many friends, and she was a mother to me and my two girls. I don’t have as much now that she’s gone. But I am holding on.”

Wanda came to RiseBoro after mounting financial hardships forced her to seek assistance. “I was very desperate. I prayed to God, and told Him I didn’t know how I got into this situation. My landlord was going to throw me out.” After walking down Myrtle Avenue, Wanda met a lady she confided in. “I was losing my mother and she told me to go to HomeBase.” Wanda had often passed by the HomeBase building located at 1475 Myrtle while running errands and grocery shopping but states that she didn’t realize what services were offered until the stranger she had met that day told her to visit. “I didn’t go to HomeBase the first week, I let another week pass, I was very nervous, I knew if I went they would hear my problems and I was embarrassed that I had no one to turn to.”

After building her courage, Wanda found that coming to HomeBase was exactly what she needed. “Cynthia, my case manager was easy to talk to. She listened to me. She respected me. She is a beautiful person and she was spiritual. I knew she was the right person to help me. She was an angel. HomeBase has changed me. Erica the financial coach taught me to budget so that I can save money. She gave me hope.”

After talking to Wanda we discovered that she is famous in her building for her lasagna. “Whenever my brother comes he says, will you make Lasagna for my wife and I? Whenever I make it now, everyone in my building asks me to make them a pan. If I could, I would open a restaurant and my lasagna would be my specialty. I would play good music and not charge too much so everyone could come and eat there.”