My Family’s Story

Before graduating from Climb’s Commercial Driving License (CDL) training in Casper three years ago, Kendra was surviving pay check to pay check, working at a gas station for $10 an hour.

“It was pretty bleak. I wasn’t able to spend much time with my daughter because of my work schedule. I was never home. I would drop her off at school, and she would cry and cry and not want me to leave her. And then I would get home with only enough time to tuck her into bed.”

During this time in her life, Kendra says she relied on food stamps and other community assistance programs.

After completing training, Kendra began her job placement at the Food Bank of Wyoming, where she still works today. She earns a high enough salary that she no longer needs government assistance.

Kendra loves driving her big semi, delivering critical food resources to families in need. She’s really proud to use her training and career to pay it forward. She says sometimes people are surprised when she hops out of her truck, standing barely 5 feet tall. “Me just being the mighty woman that I am, I show that I can do it. I guess my smile just changes people’s minds.”

“Thanks to Climb, I feel more secure. I am giving my daughter opportunities that she didn’t have before.”

At Climb, Jodi didn’t just push past her comfort zone, she leaped out of it feet first.

After suffering from severe social anxiety that kept her out of work and on disability for more than 20 years, Jodi bravely walked through Climb’s doors two years ago feeling determined…and very nervous.

The first person Jodi met at Climb was our mental health provider. “She was so easy to talk to,” Jodi recalls. “She leaned in and really wanted to hear my story.”

Once Jodi’s Office Careers training in the Teton Area started, her group’s first exercise was to make and share posters about their kids, an exercise designed to build connections with the group and work on professional presentation skills. “I was so terrified to talk in front of people, but everyone gave me a lot of positive encouragement,” Jodi says.

These structured group experiences, along with individual therapy sessions, help moms like Jodi strengthen and repair executive functioning skills that are often damaged from the toxic impacts poverty can have on brain functioning.

The job interview phase presented another opportunity for Jodi to learn and practice new skills. In the safety of Climb’s intentional, therapeutic structure, staff guided her through preparation for different interview types—one-on-one, panel, and phone—so she could grow her confidence.

Jodi accepted a position as the Administrative Assistant for Physician’s Services at St. John’s Health in Jackson, where she supports more than 40 health providers by coordinating meetings, staff recruitment, hospital visits, and more.

“Before Climb, it was hard to even go to the grocery store, so going out and getting a job felt totally impossible,” says Jodi. “Now it’s really different. I like talking to my coworkers.”

“I have tools for when I get over-whelmed, but I don’t notice my anxiety at work. I speak up in meetings! I’ve done a complete 180-degree turn.”

“I drive and operate several different vehicles, including semis with 13-speed manual transmissions,” says Paola, a driver for Sweetwater County Road and Bridge. “I haul materials for the maintenance and construction of our county roads. Every day is different.”

Paola and another Climb graduate are the only women currently driving for their department. “It’s a big responsibility being behind such an enormous vehicle since they have so much power to them,” says Paola. “You have to have the courage and training to get behind the wheel. I take it very seriously.”

Gene Legerski, Sweetwater County’s Public Works Director, collaborated with Climb for Paola’s job placement. “I’ve worked with many women in the industry during the past 30 years and all of them have been great employees. I try to encourage them because, with the national shortage of CDL drivers, there is always a place for people eager to show up and learn.”

Gene says that Climb has been a vital source of new employees for Sweetwater County over the years. “I’m a big fan of teaching job skills,” he says. “Starting in this industry is a new beginning for Climb moms, and it makes our community better all around when they fill critical gaps in our workforce.”

Having a higher income has been life-changing for Paola and her children, especially as her oldest son started at the Lincoln College of Technology in Denver this fall. “This job has given us so much more stability,” she says. “I’m very persistent. When I want something that will benefit me or my family, I become very brave and ambitious.”

In her teens and early 20s, Samm realized she was at risk of repeating for her family the same negative patterns she’d experienced growing up. “Dead-end jobs, drugs, alcohol…I became hell-bent on getting out of that situation.”

Today, you’ll find Samm working for Habitat for Humanity, her job placement after completing Climb’s Administrative Support Specialist training in Cheyenne last year. After leaving a life of isolation and pain, Samm now throws herself into each workday with zeal, learning as much as she can and taking on new responsibilities like writing grants, fundraising, planning, and project management for new homes and a home rehabilitation project that’s under construction. She has met Cheyenne’s mayor and sat in on county commissioner’s meetings with congressional staffers.

On the weekends, Samm loves taking her kids along to help with community improvement projects, picking up trash, or planting trees. She has also signed up to be an advocate for troubled youth in the court system.

“The best way I can explain it is that at Climb, I felt nurtured,” Samm says. “I felt accepted, and that has helped me come out of my shell and see my past as a strength instead of a weakness.”

“Climb gave me the tools to go forth into the community. I’ve been able to replicate the energy I felt at Climb in other places in my life.”

“For me, working in healthcare means not treating a patient like a job to get done but making them feel like a real person.”

In response to the community’s need to fill in-demand CNA positions, Ruth’s training included classroom modules with hands-on lab hours that prepared her for testing and certification. Each participant also had a chance to do clinical rounds and experience different medical settings.

After training, Ruth began her job placement at Primrose Retirement Community. With six kids ages 11 to 20, Ruth says her new career has a consistent weekly schedule that has allowed her to do new activities with her family.

Her work also holds a lot of personal significance. “My mom was in a care facility before she passed away,” says Ruth. “So it was a real drive for me to pay it forward and take care of people like her.”

“Ruth is such a great CNA,” says Mary, one of the residents at Primrose. “There’s a difference between just doing your job and being a very caring person.”

When Ruth walks into work each day, she’s grateful to feel a new found confidence. “I was in a relationship for a long time where my self-confidence felt extinguished,” she says of years living with domestic violence. “Climb is the first place where I’ve felt truly seen, heard, and accepted with no judgment. It’s a safe place, a real second chance. Climb helped me see what I can be, not what I was.”