Lidia Ramirez can hardly believe she’s working her dream job. She is a Case Manager for Sunday Friends. She is the one who sits with families, hears their stories, learns about their barriers, and clarifies what kinds of resources they need: housing, food, English classes, computer classes, support for children with special needs, etc. It is Lidia’s job to connect them with community resources, either people and agencies she already knows or others she must seek out.

How did Lidia get here? It all started four years ago when she lost her job moving boxes at UPS. She was depressed and didn’t know where to go next. A neighbor told her about Sunday Friends and Lidia lit up when she heard about the education available for free through the program. Lidia describes herself as “passionate to learn”. She always liked to help people and thought that, with more education, she might be able to be of real value. 

So Lidia went to Sunday Friends and brought her husband and her five teenage kids. And that’s where she discovered that she has gifts. Sunday Friends’ staff was taken by the way she always spoke up, asked questions, and volunteered to help. They saw how she engaged others. Over time she took on more responsibility until, a year ago, Tatiana offered her the full-time job of Case Manager.

As excited as she was, Lidia was concerned that she had no experience with computers. They reassured her: Don’t worry about it. We are going to teach you. She was almost in tears. And, she reports, they have taught her. 

Lidia said, “I have one word for Sunday Friends: Gratitude. It takes my life for good. (I’m trying not to cry.)”

And then Lidia told me about her family.

Her husband, who still goes to the program and also helps out sometimes behind the scenes, is very proud of her. He saw that she was not okay before Sunday Friends. Now he says, “I see people saying, ‘Oh are you Lidia?’ I see how you are with the community when you speak.”

And her kids still help out, too. In fact, her daughter (age 17) and her niece (22) are both part of Sunday Friends’ RISE program, where they are getting trained, along with other teens and young adults, to advocate for their community within the bigger community.

Lidia says: “I feel like my family is getting stronger, getting more values, practicing good values to remember when they get older. I am very, very happy that we all can be in one place, even while we’re doing different things. It makes me feel very close.”

She concluded with: “Thanks for the opportunity. I can be able to grow more. I can do things that I never thought I could do. Most important: I feel so proud when I can teach others that it’s never too late to learn. I see them putting in their best effort to learn. We are doing the difference.”

- Janis, 05/2025