Gary Parker, a single father of four, was having a tough time adjusting to being a single dad. He was referred to FIRST 5 by a local agency. After meeting with his FIRST 5 Family Partner, they decided to focus on two major goals: helping his youngest son, Steven to be academically, behaviorally, and...

Emilia Padilla, mother of three was desperate to improve her family life so she contacted FIRST 5. With the guidance and support of her FIRST 5 Family Partner, Emilia immediately enrolled in an 8-week parenting course provided by Catholic Charities. She also attended evening English as a Second Language...

Mahatma Gandhi went from city to city, village to village collecting funds for the Charkha Sangh. During one of his tours he addressed a meeting in Orissa. After his speech a poor old woman got up. She was bent with age, her hair was grey and her clothes were in tatters. The volunteers tried to stop...

In 1883, a creative engineer named John Roebling was inspired by an idea to build a spectacular bridge connecting New York with the Long Island. However bridge building experts throughout the world thought that this was an impossible feat and told Roebling to forget the idea. It just could not be done....

We convince ourselves that life will be better once we are married, have a baby, then another. Then we get frustrated because our children are not old enough, and that all will be well when they are older. Then we are frustrated because they reach adolescence and we must deal with them. Surely...

The Santanas migrated from Mexico to the U.S. to build a better life for themselves and their children, three girls, 5, 2 years old and 2 months old. They worked in the fields to earn a living. “We came here to live and I came to the Center to have someone take care of my daughters so I could work,”...

When my Parent Partner came into my life, I was really struggling. My fiancé, Robert, had just passed away from cancer after a long illness. My 5 year old son, Tony was struggling too. Losing Robert, the only father he had known, affected him tremendously. He was angry and hurting other kids at school....

  My name is Alfredo A and when I first met my Parent Partner, my son Pedro had just started experimenting with drugs.   At that time, my wife of seventeen years had left us to go back to Honduras without giving us a reason for leaving. I was left with three teenage children, Lucy,16, Carol,14, and...