Joe Needed A Hand;
Now He Lends One

Joe Bailey, a truck driver for 30 years, had one bad month that cost him his home, his car, his wife and his mental health. Depressed, homeless and battling addiction, he was headed in the wrong direction.

“For the first time in my life I couldn’t take care of myself. Of course you’d be depressed,” he said.

Joe was living at a Crisis Ministries shelter funded by Trident United Way and attending counseling classes through Tricounty Family Ministries’ Healing Hands program. Joe got back on his feet physically, spiritually and emotionally. “If it weren’t for Tricounty Family Ministries, I wouldn’t be here,” he acknowledges.

Trident United Way knows that education, income and health are tied together. Without restoring Joe’s health, there’s no way he could have gotten his life together. TUW invests $45,250 in the Healing Hands program because of its track record of success with improving clients’ health. Last year, 96% of its clients took their medications as prescribed.

Today, Joe lives in an apartment and serves as Tricounty Family Ministries’ food service volunteer coordinator. “It makes me happy to be needed,” he said.