Client Stories

Here, you can find Client Stories for Jubilee House and Market View Apartments.

Belinda Dickson (Previously featured client stories at bottom of page)

Belinda Dickson

Former Tabor Client Soars

At Tabor we celebrate each success that our clients achieve. Once clients complete their program, they move on with their lives and we often do not hear from them several years later. So it is especially gratifying when we hear of a client who successfully completed the program and several years later is excelling independently.

Belinda's addiction was to alcohol and drugs and lasted three years, on and off. "My mother wasn't there," she explains what may have led to her addiction. "I was raised by my grandparents, but followed in the footsteps of my parents." After attempting suicide, she realized "this is not what I want to do, not how I want to live my life.

Belinda came to Jubilee House in October 2001 with an infant and 3 other children. Jubilee was the first place she had on her own. She was not good with money, but Jubilee provided the structured environment she needed. She learned to manage her money and went through Tabor's Consumer Credit Counseling Services to clean up her debt.

While at Jubilee, she received Section 8 and obtained her first apartment, using Tabor's protective payee program to assure the landlord that her rent would be paid, because her credit was poor. When asked about her credit now, she laughs, "It's good, now. Thanks to them helping me set up a budget plan and paying it off - it's very good."

With the money she saved in Tabor's Family Savings Account program and the resulting additional match money, she purchased her first car. She purchased her own home in November 2007 with no help from Tabor.

Belinda now works at Vantage House for drug and alcohol rehabilitation, where she started her own journey out of addiction. She has worked there three years, two as House Manager and now as a counselor. Belinda declares, "It's great. I have a lot of experience to help the women. They look up to me. I'm a role model for them."

With an Associates degree in Social Science and pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice at the Greenfield branch of Albright College, her ultimate goal is to be a probation office. But she loves her current job, so she is not sure what the future will bring career wise.

How was she able to make so many positive changes in her life? Belinda reflects, "I had dreams when I was younger - always wanted to do good and live the right way. ... I was very determined to get my life together." She attributes that determination to her children and wanting to give them a better life, "especially the younger ones - the girls." For her children she wants them to be all that they can be. "They are good kids, they impress me sometimes." They won't be able to say that she wasn't there.

In 2002, she found out she has Lupus, but the medication is helping and physically she is okay, so far. To anyone who is considering using Tabor's programs, Belinda says, "Tabor is going to help. The people are nice. They care. Everyone was nice and helpful to me."

Previously Featured Client Stories