United Way Capital Area Stories
Teresa Amador
Del Valle, Austin, TX
Teresa Amador’s story is a successful one. Today, she is a leadership giver with United Way Capital Area (UWCA) and has a great career as a policy management supervisor with Texas Mutual Insurance. It wasn’t always this good, however. Twenty years ago, she started out as a teenage mother struggling to finish high school.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
“I know the importance of my gift and how it can make a real difference in someone’s life,” said Teresa. “I’m investing in people that need help – just like someone did for me.”
When Teresa became pregnant as a young teen, she knew her life had changed forever. She wanted to provide for and be there for her child which wasn’t possible just by working the night shift. “I thought wow; I’m at a dead-end street with no diploma. I didn’t know what I was going to do.” As luck would have it, Teresa’s employer had posted a flier from a UWCA partner offering GED assistance and job placement for teens. Within 24 hours, Teresa had made a call that changed her life.
United Way is in the business of changing lives and we know that families need broad support to become financially stable. We connect them to programs that provide additional training or educational opportunities so they can broaden their job prospects. We also look deeper to ensure that their other living needs, such as affordable child care, are met.
Education and quality childcare were Teresa’s immediate needs. Through a UWCA partner program, she finished her high school studies and got a GED. That agency helped her even further by offering her a job. It was then she became impressed by the other programs they offered, including one that made childcare affordable.
FINDING HOPE
Today, Teresa has been married for 24 years, has three sons and is a proud grandmother. When asked what advice she would give to others who may be in the same position she was more than two decades ago, she said, “Don’t give up. You have to be willing to ask for help and sometimes that’s hard because you think you’re going to be judged. But those programs and the people who run them aren’t there to judge – they’re there to help.”
