Tina Cook graduated from City Vision in 2014, and now serves as community resource specialist and office manager for the Family Resource Center in Athens, GA. Her own experience of homelessness and addiction, along with the practical tools provided by City Vision’s Addiction Studies program, have prepared her not only to meet the immediate needs of FRC’s clients, but to start them on the path to self-sufficiency. When clients come into the center, Cook does an assessment and tries to go beyond the immediate need, like help paying rent, to see if they may need budgeting classes or help finding a job.
“When people are in fear or crisis mode, it’s hard for them to look at the big picture,” Cook said to Faith & Family magazine. “That’s where I come in.” Regardless of how her clients are struggling, Cook avoids judgment. “[These] are broken people,” she says. “They don’t need more hurt.”