Our Impact: Stories

“Sponsors from VOA really do give you all the tools you need to set you up for success.” Roxaine Oneykakeyah All it took was a chance meeting with a former coworker to set Roxaine Onyekakeya on a path to an independent life, one that includes opportunity, financial stability, and skills for life. Roxaine and her coworker met at a group home where Roxaine’s dedication and commitment to work was clear. She had never heard of Volunteers of America Texas but didn’t hesitate to step up and become a part of the Financial Opportunity Center in Houston where she received her…

“Stephanie helped me get anything I needed. She’s an amazing person.” Duberney Cuero Duberney Cuero can tell you exactly when he became an American citizen. And he can tell you exactly why. It was 2005 at the American embassy in Rome, Italy. He was there as a nearly lifelong resident of the United States and a career soldier who wanted nothing more than to be a full-fledged citizen. “It took three years just to submit the paperwork while I was in Iraq,” he explains. Once in Italy with yet another deployment to a war zone coming up, Duberney asked his…

What keeps you motivated and dedicated after the 16 years that you’ve been with VOA Texas? The mission of helping the vulnerable reach their full potential. We provide different programs so in my position, I get to work with all of the different programs and it is fulfilling work. Explain how you have benefited from growth opportunities at VOA Texas. From Program Coordinator to being promoted to Director. In being promoted I get to work with a vast array of other organizations! Sharing about our mission and encouraging them to partner with us and so far it’s been even more rewarding. What’s…

What keeps you motivated and dedicated after the 24 years that you’ve been with VOA Texas? I love working with seniors and people with disabilities and helping them to find affordable, safe, and decent housing. I love the VOA Family and how supportive they have always been to me. VOA has afforded me the opportunity to grow and advance in my field since I joined them in 1998. Explain how you have benefited from growth opportunities at VOA Texas. I started with VOA in the closing of the Louisiana Affiliate office and relocating the properties and positions to Texas in Grapevine. I…

PATRICIA ROLANDFederal Case Manager Supervisor, Residential Re-entry What keeps you motivated and dedicated after the five years that you’ve been with VOA Texas? I have the opportunity to let individuals know that they are enough. Many haven’t heard those words and were always told the opposite. My job allows me the opportunity to help individuals navigate a better path or journey. I get to provide them with tools and resources to rebuild and unlock new doors. Explain how you have benefited from growth opportunities at VOA Texas. I’ve been allowed to develop a relationship with resources in the community. I’ve been allowed…

“VOA Texas provided me with a foundation of hope during the most hopeless point of my life.” Shawnda Hibbeler Cyber crime is something most Americans have only heard about. To Shawnda Hibbeler, however, an almost unbelievable series of cyber crimes left her and her daughter homeless, hopeless and without a penny to her name. “Literally overnight, my life was completely turned upside down, destroyed and stolen from us,” she said, citing internet-enabled financial theft, identity theft, internet fraud and abuse. “I lost all of my money, credit cards, job, house, car, belongings—absolutely everything. I was scared to death with nowhere…

“Volunteers of America has been a light for me and I will pay that amazing gift forward as I volunteer to counsel the homeless.” Craig Swan Craig Swain had it all. He was living a successful white-collar life, thanks to a genius for all things computers and the technology they entailed. It was a gift that Craig turned into a career, along with his natural fit for the corporate world. Well-liked, polite, and a master at his craft, good-paying jobs were easy to find. He had a nice home, a family. It was perfect. But it all changed in one…

“My self-esteem is intact again.” It was 2014 and Courtney Johnson was in the Dallas County Jail. Based on the drug charges she heard in court she knew she would be here a while. She had no family. No money. No one to come see her. And she wasn’t even 30 years old. One day, she looked through the windows of her jail pod to another across the way where prisoners were doing yoga “I thought, ‘I want to do yoga.’ Someone told me it was a program pod for Resolana.” Courtney made the move and found more than a…

“I lost myself in my addiction; Resolana helped me find myself and be a better version of myself.” Chelsea Collier’s life as an only child started out just fine. She grew up in the Dallas area with two working parents. Her father worked long hours; she was especially close to her mother who spoiled her. But at 14, the first cracks in the foundation appeared when her parents divorced. She and her mother moved to Frisco and Chelsea found herself in the middle of nowhere. Then she met a family she fell in love with. “They would do anything for…

“It just takes somebody to believe in you.” For Xavier Roberts, the road to drug addiction was a long, slow downhill drive. The California native first set foot in Texas as a 32-year-old adult. Married, with children, she began so-called “recreational” drug use. “It was fun,” she said. “Drink a little here, snort a little cocaine there. I could go to work; I could take care of the children. I didn’t realize how progressive a disease addiction was.” It was an especially traumatic domestic abuse episode with her now ex-husband in 2012 that proved to be the event that caused…