Morgan Hill CalWorks honoree Sara Munns (left) with Starr Coatney, Management Analyst for CalWORKs Employment Services at a ceremony recognizing the program's hard-working participants.
Frank Hernandez (right) of Morgan Hill was recognized at the CalWorks client awards Tuesday, Dec. 9 at the board of supervisors chambers. Hernandez is pictured with his son Joshua, 12, and his daughter Loredana, 11.
Morgan Hill residents Sara Munns and Francisco "Frank" Hernandez saw their lives get so shaken up and turned around that it took some help from a source they didn't expect to get back on their feet.
Munns and Hernandez were among 10 local CalWorks recipients honored by the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors at the 18th annual Client Achievement Awards Tuesday, Dec. 9.
CalWorks is a state and federally funded program that provides cash assistance and employment services to families and individuals in need. It is administered by the county's Department of Employment and Benefit Services.
Department administrator Denise Boland said last week's ceremony was held to recognize "the folks who have really risen to the top and landed back on their feet."
In separate interviews with the Times, Hernandez and Munns shared their stories of the hardship they faced on the way to once again becoming healthy and successful people. Although their situations leading them to the welfare office are vastly different, both learned how important the CalWorks program is, and have come away with a new perspective on life.
Hernandez, 46, breaks all stereotypes and generalizations anyone may have about welfare clients. He had a 20-year-plus career in the technology field. Not too long ago he was a high-level marketing executive for Fortune 100 companies, focusing in international business and earning a six-figure income. He traveled frequently and speaks four languages.
Then in 2005, a series of calamities struck his health and his home. He was diagnosed with cancer, which required lengthy treatment. Before he recovered, Hernandez's wife left him, abandoning him with their two children.
When he was healthy enough to look for work again the following year, Hernandez naturally sought a job similar to the one he had before his cancer diagnosis. But he could no longer travel because he was taking care of two kids. Furthermore, when he tried for lower-level positions, employers were reluctant to hire the overqualified candidate.
He had saved some money while he was working, but with a pile of medical bills and ongoing court battles, his finances began to run low.
"Even though I had a great resume and skills, by 2007 I had 12 dollars in my pocket," Hernandez said. His children were failing school, and the three of them didn't have a place to stay for more than a few months at a time.
"I needed to have a job so I could bring some stability to the kids."
Finally, Hernandez went to the CalWorks office and applied for cash assistance. Besides providing financial help, CalWorks works closely with clients to help them find employment.
One way they do that is by helping them repackage their skills and abilities so they are more marketable to potential employees. They helped Hernandez rewrite his resume, and advised him on career changes that suited his background.
Within a couple of months he was hired by Maximus, a government contractor that works with MediCal clients to help them receive their medical benefits. His office is in Gilroy, and he has now worked there about a year.
Hernandez also volunteers as an instructor of a computer skills class at Eliot Elementary School in Gilroy. The class is coordinated by the Vision Literacy adult education program.
He and his children, Joshua, 12, and Loredana, 11, have lived at their home on Del Monte Avenue in Morgan Hill for almost a year.
Hernandez doesn't make as much money now as he did in his previous career. But he says he has gained more value from the lessons he learned in the process of "having dropped all the way to the bottom and coming back up." Now he is able to see how difficult life can be for those who are less fortunate, and has first-hand knowledge of how effective programs such as CalWorks can be.
"I used to complain about taxes because I didn't understand programs like this," said Hernandez, who received CalWorks cash assistance for five months in 2007. "You don't need to understand anything else when you're in that situation (making a high income). A situation like this (living in poverty) opens your eyes a lot."
Sara Munns, 31, also urges growing support for CalWorks, as she is another illustration of how the program can turn one's life around.
A onetime entrepreneur who owned a successful furniture store near San Jose with her ex-husband, Munns also succumbed to a series of misfortunes before enrolling in CalWorks.
Financial difficulties at the furniture store and trouble with Munns' marriage started around the same time back in 2000 to 2001, she explained. By 2003, the two struggles complicated each other, and the store folded. The couple, who had been together for 10 years and had three children together, moved to Las Vegas, Nev."Then our marriage took a turn for worse," Munns said. "We weren't able to salvage anything." Plagued by anxiety and depression, Munns then fell into substance addiction that turned "ugly and nasty."
She and her husband got divorced, she lost custody of her children, was homeless for a while, and her health began to fail.
"I spiraled down for about a year and a half," Munns said.
Reaching a dead end, in 2006 she moved to Morgan Hill where her parents and her sister live. Shortly after that, Munns found out she was pregnant with her fourth child.
Deciding it was time to take control of her life, Munns enrolled in Pathways, an out-patient drug treatment program, and CalWorks at the same time.
Her CalWorks case worker referred Munns to the Keys to Success education program, where she was screened for learning disabilities, then she enrolled in Fremont Adult Education where she took an eight-week course that included nursing instruction.
Now drug-free for three years, Munns is a certified nursing assistant who has worked the last six months with muscular distrophy patients. She is now in transition to move back to Las Vegs to be closer to her other three children, with whom she plans to rebuild a healthy relationship, and to go back to school.
"That's the sweetest ending of all, that I had a goal set in mind for myself and my family, and I'm able to do that," said Munns. "Before this, I had never really started anything and finished it in my life."
Munns encourages other people currently in situations similar to hers to seek assistance from the many community programs that are available to help in Santa Clara County.
She now volunteers with the Turning Wheels nonprofit organization, which rebuilds used bikes to donate to low-income children. Munns particularly praised CalWorks and the people there who helped her.
"It was hard work, but as long as you do the hard work, the people at CalWorks are truly there to help you. It was a really good experience."
Michael Moore Michael Moore covers county and law enforcement issues for the Morgan Hill Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106, ext. 202, or mmoore@morganhilltimes.com.
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