Lisa Johnson still has nightmares about April of 2007, when she lost her father, her son and her aunt…all within two weeks. Two of them died in her arms. To make matters worse she lost her job because she missed too much work, while burying her loved ones and dealing with her grief. Was it unbelievably bad luck or a test of faith? The Oak Grove, Missouri, woman isn’t sure which, but says she never could have survived the ordeal without the help of the Community Services League, a CFC agency.

Lisa moved to the Kansas City area so she could be closer to her aunt, her ex-husband and teenage son. Lisa found a job caring for residents at a senior care facility in Grain Valley . She’d been there six months when her world suddenly fell apart.

A cousin called telling Lisa that her aunt was in the hospital and she needed to come right away. Lisa rushed to the hospital, arriving just in time to say goodbye before her aunt literally died in her arms. Lisa’s son, Matt, joined them at the hospital. He was also very close to Lisa’s aunt and her sudden death was a crushing blow. Matt was distraught and said he just had to go. He went to a cousin’s house, which was just two blocks away.

Less than an hour later, while Lisa was still at the hospital grieving for her aunt she received a frantic call from her cousin, telling her that Matt had shot himself in the head. Lisa rushed to the house arriving just in time to hear her dying son say, “I love you Mom. You’ll always be in my heart.” It was enough to send anybody over the edge, but the string of tragedies wasn’t over yet.

Lisa’s parents came to Oak Grove for the funerals of Matt and Lisa’s aunt. On their way back home, another driver crossed the median of I-70, hitting her parents’ car nearly head-on. Lisa’s dad died 10 days later and her mom had to have part of her leg amputated. When Lisa called her employer and asked for a leave of absence they said yes, but a month later when she was ready to return to work, they told her she’d missed so much time that they had to hire someone else.

Without a job and still dealing with the grief of losing her son, her dad and her aunt, Lisa found herself unable to pay her $290 electric bill. She called the Community Services League (CSL) office in Oak Grove, seeking help after receiving a shut-off notice from the electric company. CSL paid Lisa’s electric bill and gave her food from their food pantry. But the case worker knew that what Lisa really needed was a job, so she helped Lisa create her first resume, and use CSL’s computer to search for a job.

Armed with a resume, compassion and experience caring for seniors, Lisa found a job at another senior center 15 minutes from her home. But Lisa had one more obstacle to overcome. Since she hadn’t worked in four months, she didn’t have enough money to buy the uniforms she needed for her new job. CSL’s Work Express program came to the rescue again. The head of CSL’s Oak Grove office took Lisa to Wal-Mart and bought her two sets of scrubs at a cost of $56. Lisa remembers, “I almost started crying. It felt good to know that somebody cared and they were willing to help out. I’m just thankful that we have an agency like Community Services League and that they were there when I needed them.” Lisa added, “I still don’t understand why everything happened at once, but somehow I got through it and I know that tomorrow will be a brighter day.”