It was still cold when Emily McCue met a young man just two days out of prison. He had been put on a bus to Louisville even though he wasn’t from Kentucky and had never been to the city before. When he arrived downtown at 2 a.m. he had only the clothes he had worn into prison. He was cold, he was hungry, and he didn’t know what to do.

A caseworker with Sister Visitor Center, Emily visits agencies and shelters to help people get SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps. The first time she sat across a table from the young men, “he just let out a flood of tears,” she said. “He was exhausted, scared, and destitute.”

He didn’t have a phone or an ID, without which it’s “it’s nearly impossible” to get services. His prison ID had misspelled his name, so it was useless. Emily helped him find a bed for the night and then showed him how to get an ID, order a social security card and birth certificate, and get a phone. “I printed off maps to show him how to get place to place on foot.”

Over the next two weeks Emily saw him participating in classes to gain employment and reacclimate. “Every day his smile grew a little bigger.” In week three, she helped him apply for SNAP benefits. In week four he was hired at a local restaurant. In week five he was approved for housing. And now?

“Six weeks from the day I met this young man, he came to tell me that he is awaiting the call to pick up keys to his new apartment.” He also opened his first bank account, deposited his first paycheck, and applied to the shelter where he has been staying to be a peer mentor.

“Today he stands tall with pride and a smile as he shares these accomplishments with me.”

This what we do. Won’t you help us do it?