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Your first visit

Appointments are not initially taken. You arrive at the office and there will be a sign-in sheet. We will tell you at sign-in how many clients we can expect to see before noon. If the morning session is full, we may ask you to come back at the 1:00 pm session for a second sign-in. The receptionist or a case manager will ask you to fill out the agency application form, which asks about all household members, income information, and expenses.

All of our offices are air conditioned and have sufficient seating with restroom facilities available. A case worker will call you into a private office and ask about your crises. He/she will review your income level, your history with the agency if any, and ask general questions to best determine which grants and types of assistance we may be able to help you with. Each grant or fund has different guidelines and timelines and can be somewhat complex. Some grants require income to be at or below certain levels, while others do not have income restrictions. If addition to any assistance we may be able to offer, we will provide referrals to other sources that may be able to help you in your situation.

Usually, there will be some action required of you in order to qualify for assistance. If you are unemployed, we usually ask that you register with the Texas Workforce Commission and look for work. Documentation of utility bills and late notices will be required for utility and rent/mortgage assistance. You may need to visit other agencies to get pledges for the remainder of a large bill so that with our pledge, the entire bill can be paid. When you bring any requested documents or information back to us, you do not have to wait in line.

At certain times of the month or year, a case worker may tell you that we are out of certain funding. You may wonder why you had to wait, fill out forms, and be interviewed. This is because the agency is rarely completely out of all funding, and the case worker must hear you story to see if anything can be done. When the interview is over, the case worker will explain in detail how the pledge process works, what information still needs to be provided if any, where you will drop off or fax requested documents to complete you case, and any other questions that you may have.

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