“We have worked really hard to find good programs for the people we serve,” said Tallatoona Director, Sheila Callaway.
The Action to Success program is one that Callaway says has helped clients set goals, maintain them and succeed in long-term life plans.
The Action to Success program helps clients manage their finances, save for the future and budget.
“The program isn’t for everyone; the people we put in that program have to be willing to jump through hoops,” Calloway said.
The secret to succeeding in the program, Callaway says, is priorities.
“Your house payments come first; your car payments come next if you have one, and then the bills you need like your electric bill,” Callaway explains.
Callaway says the No. 1 way for clients achieve their goals is to be willing to make the necessary life changes to gain financial stability.
“It is a wonderful program, but participants have to do everything we ask them like giving up cable to pay their rent or mortgage,” she said. “If they want a job or they want to go to school we can help them do that.”
Callaway said once potential clients make an appointment they will be asked to make a list of long and short term goals, both personally and financially. They will then asked to make a budget.
“This is where we lose a lot of people because they don’t want to tell us how they are spending their money,” she said.
The program takes about a year to complete, and Callaway says that clients who stick with the program through its entirety are successful.
“It is hard for some people, they have to be willing to work,” she said
Action to Success isn’t Tallatoona’s only program that has long-term benefits; Callaway says the Angel Food program is also benefiting members of the community. The Angel Food program provides low cost, quality foods to families and singles once a month.
Callaway says the program, which has been in Gordon County for 15 years, feeds about 150 people a month.
“This program isn’t based on anything. It is for anybody that wants to take advantage of it,” she said.
Calloway says she personally orders food from the Angel Food program each month, and the program needs more orders to keep it in the county.
“The funds go back into the program going, to keep costs low,” she said.
The cost of the program ranges from $22 for a fruit and vegetable box, to $30 for a box that contains frozen vegetables, fresh fruits and meats for a family of four.
“Groceries are expensive, this will save people money, and I am all about saving money,” Callaway says.
The cost for each box ranges about 50 percent below that of local grocers.
The program does accept food stamps and orders can be made through www.angelfoodministries.com.
To sign up for Action to Success call Tallatoona at 706-629-2333.
Here's why.
Charge for food, cheat local grocers, $146,000 unused [not enough free helpers to complete paperwork to heat homes]; then crow about it in the newspaper.
"Calloway says she personally orders food from the Angel Food program each month."
"This program isn’t based on anything. It is for anybody that wants to take advantage of it."
Worse: $500,000 grant [politically approved, including Administrator Dowlings blessing] to construct a new building for Tallatoona in a deepening recession [Get this: $128,000 to move contents from old to new; less than 6,000 sq ft]. Just insane.
Source: Tallatoona hopes to expand with $500K grant - Calhoun Times.