PROFILE - Caring Sponsor Ann Kohler

A unique feature of the Carying Place Transitional Housing Program is the role of the Caring Sponsor. The family is assigned to a team for the four-month duration of the program. The Support Partners come out each Thursday night and help them with their budgeting and goal setting. The Caring Sponsor’s role is to provide a shoulder to cry on when the Support Partners seem too demanding, giving ongoing personal, emotional and spiritual support to their family. They extend their hands and their hearts in fellowship and love.

The time commitment is about the same, but it can take many forms and happen at any time during the week. For Ann Kohler, “I would take the child for a walk or to the library or just sit down and listen to what happens to Mom at work, just those things.”

Kohler, who has been retired now for many years, has her degree in counseling, and it came in handy over several years as Caring Sponsor, serving approximately six families.

“I thought it was very rewarding to work with the families, I got as much out of it as they did,” she said. “Everyone can have bad times and need a helping hand,” she said.

She especially enjoyed getting to know the children in the family, often providing a much-needed break for Mom. “They would have the goals from the Thursday night session, but the reality was, unless someone was watching the children, they were not able to do it,” she said. Her favorite destination with children was the public library.

Often, just listening was the way to best help. “Many times they would come out of the team meeting and have their feelings hurt, because they thought they’d had such great improvements.” She would try to help them understand why the Support Partners’ action was necessary, “to listen to them and help guide them in the path they need to go, still understanding why they felt insulted or whatever.”

“The role of the Caring Sponsor is important,” said Program Manager Annie Graham, “especially if you’re a single mom and don’t have any family in the area. You’ve got to have that understanding shoulder, that source of encouragement and support.”

Kohler spent a minimum of two hours a week with each family, depending on their circumstances. “It seems like a lot, but I tried to be there for a couple of hours at a time, and spend at least an hour so that I could really process their situation,” she said.

The key was being available to listen to them, she said. Phone calls were also really important.

Graham said that Kohler was a wonderful Caring Sponsor, but that the commitment is really only one to two hours at the most. “It could be a 30-minute phone call some weeks, just to say how is it going? It could be they need some help doing meal planning. They just can’t get it together. ‘Let’s go to the grocery store,’ maybe that could be an hour, hour and a half. . . .

“If it’s more than two hours a week, that’s way too much time, and they will burn out,” Graham said.