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Divorce
wasn't the only trauma Debra Rubens faced in 1994.
The Mercer Island resident was suddenly a single parent
of two sons, ages 3 and 7. She had no money,
no marketable skills and no self-esteem...
"To get a job... to do anything, you have to have
confidence, exude it and believe it," she says.
That's
why the year of counseling financed by Washington Women
In Need was so effective. It gave her perspective; it
helped her deal with one issue at a time.
"Part
of survival is taking the next step," she says.
Today,
3-1/2 years later, Rubens is tow months into a $24,000-a-year
sales job, as territorial manager for the State Chemical
Manufacturing Co. She is a church member and a volunteer
with Mercer Island Youth & Family Services. "I
feel great," she says. "I'm proud of myself
and proud of my kids... I have a lot of faith in God
and a lot of confidence in the future."
For
the last two months, Rubens also has served on the Advisory
Board of WIN. Her mission: to make sure board members
understand just how difficult is the road faced by women
in crisis.
"It's
like a domino effect," she says, a constant, exhausting
struggle to stay emotionally on top.
Rubens
had had a very good job six years prior to her divorce.
Because she had quit to raise her children and had not
kept up with technology, however, she found herself
divorced and unemployable. She went on welfare from
1994-96, taking in just over $9,000 a year. Some people
treated her badly because of it. "They had not
one iota of an idea what is was like," she says.
"It hurt."
A
tenacious woman by nature, she asked questions, wrung
out answers and enrolled in programs that would lead
to self-sufficiency. She was hampered by the strange
workings of the state, which pulled her out of a court
reporter training program she had half completed with
a straight-A average and put into a legal secretary
program that did not suit her interests.
She
still must repay a $400 federal loan for the program
she was not allowed to finish.
Washington
Women In Need does not dictate your course of study,
which in turn helps lay the foundation for independence,
she says. "They give you incentive to finish,"
Rubens says. "(They) inspire women to finish not
flounder."
--
Lori Varosh
Reprinted
by permission of the Eastside Journal.
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other articles
2285 116th Avenue NE, Suite 100, Bellevue, WA 98004
Phone: 425-451-8838. Toll Free: 888-440-WWIN
Email: wwininfo@wawomeninneed.org
webmaster@wawomeninneed.org
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