Everyone Deserves a Chance

Carol Raun – Housing Case Manager

As a case manager in GECAC’s Housing Department, Carol Raun sees it all – single moms struggling to make the rent payment, the elderly who need to choose between paying the gas bill or buying their prescriptions, the recently unemployed family who just received a foreclosure notice. No matter what their situation, Carol believes “everyone deserves a chance. They need to be heard to see if they are eligible for our services or can be referred to another program. They need to know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Carol came to work at GECAC in November 2002 after graduating from the GECAC Training Institute. In her position as Housing Case Manager, she is part of the team that assists housing and utility clients. GECAC’s housing counselors are responsible for rental assistance, Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance, Neighbor-for-Neighbor, PCAP, and Dollar Energy. But Carol encourages clients to go beyond the emergency assistance. She suggests that they take budgeting classes or pursue one-on-one budget counseling. As a single mom herself, Carol is most touched by the younger girls. If she learns that a client is starting school, she encourages them to not quit. She lets them know that it might be tough, but the time until they receive their diploma will fly and they will be much farther ahead than if they drop out of school. “That’s what our job is – to try to help people.”

Carol witnesses the Community Action Promise being fulfilled on a daily basis. “When a woman comes in who is in an abusive situation and we help her get an apartment, that’s one way. When someone, who’s always been in debt, takes a budgeting class and starts being more self-sufficient, that’s another way. We need to tell them it will get better.”