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December 1998
 Holly Word-Hill
The December 1998 Achiever of the Month Award was presented to Holly Word-Hill. The single mother of five has been on assistance for more than 25 years. When Holly was referred to Work First she was apprehensive about entering the program. She worried about how it would affect her grant? Did she have the necessary social skills to function on a job? Could she handle being independent?
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November 1998
 Lisa Kohli
Lisa Kohli, a single mother of three children, is the November 1998 Achiever of the Month. She applied for assistance from the Family Independence Agency in August of 1997, while she was unemployed and pregnant with her third child. Lisa had numerous barriers to employment. Her car was not working, she could not find affordable day care and she had never earned her high school diploma.
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October 1998
 Phyllis Baldwin
The October 1998 Achiever of Month Award was presented to Phyllis Baldwin of Mesick. Phyllis is married and the mother of three children. She and her husband Thomas applied for assistance in September of 1987, when work stopped coming into the family business. While receiving assistance Thomas suffered a debilitating heart attack. Phyllis who had never had full-time employment was now the primary wage earner.
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September 1998
 Denise Jones
The September 1998 Achiever of the Month Award was presented to Denise Jones. The mother of two sought assistance from the Van Buren County Family Independence Agency and applied for Food Stamps in August of 1997 when a difficult pregnancy left her unable to work. After the birth of her second child she worked part-time at Heartland Home Health Care.
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August 1998
 Debra Makoutz
The August 1998 Achiever of the Month, Debra Makoutz, is the single mother of six children. She applied for public assistance in November 1987 after going to the Caring House, a shelter for abuse victims. Debra needed to find new housing, but she was not working and was not receiving financial support from her separated spouse. The Agency was able to help Debra and her children settle into a new home, near relatives who could provide emotional support.
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July 1998
 Lisa Michels
The July 1998 Achiever of the Month is Lisa Michels, the single mother of two children. She has faced many of the struggles that are common to single parents. In addition, Lisa was involved in problem past relationships. Finding the courage to break free was difficult, but she knew she needed to leave both relationships for herself and for her children. Lisa had been working at Trugreen-Chemlawn since 1993 but she was laid off in June of 1995.
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June 1998
 Walter Nobles
The June 1998 Achiever of the Month award was presented to Walter Nobles. Walter first began receiving public assistance in 1982 when he applied for General Assistance. He relied on several forms of financial and medical assistance for a number of years to make ends meet. Unaware of a drug problem himself, a Juvenile Court Judge encouraged Walter to go into treatment in order to get his children who were in foster care back. While undergoing treatment his children became his inspiration.
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May 1998
 Ann Marie Alberts
The May 1998 Achiever of the Month is Ann Marie Alberts, a single parent of two children, a daughter who is five and a son who is nine months old. Both of her children have severe asthma and require extensive care due to their illness. Times became difficult when Ann left a problem relationship when her oldest child was just six months old. She and her daughter went to a women’s shelter for help and later moved in with her mom.
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April 1998
 Shelly Breithaupt
Shelly Breithaupt is the single mother of two girls and the April 1998 Achiever of the Month. In October, 1997 she applied for public assistance after experiencing family difficulties. Shelly had not worked in the last six years but was familiar with FIA programs because she had volunteered for the Victim’s Rights Program at the local Prosecutor’s office. After applying for the Family Independence Program (FIP), the FIA referred Shelly to Work First.
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March 1998
 Angelita Carpentier
The March 1998 Achiever of the Month is Angelita Carpentier, the mother of three children. She worked as a nurse’s aide in northern Michigan but was laid off from that job. She tried to find other employment, but was not successful so she applied for public assistance in August, 1997. Angelita moved to Ionia County in October, 1997 to live with her parents and with the hope of having a better chance of finding work. In Ionia County, Angelita’s FIA case manager referred her to the Work First Program.
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February 1998
 Chad Hitchingham
Chad Hitchingham is the February 1998 Achiever of the Month. Chad Hitchingham and Tiara Fort are the parents of two children ages three years old and three months old. They turned to the Family Independence Agency for assistance in December, 1994. Chad’s life was moving in a downward spiral. Difficulties at home lead to difficulties at school and he ended up dropping out at the age of sixteen. Chad’s only employment history was working twelve hours per week at Dawn Donuts for a brief period of time.
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January 1998
 Cindy Noreen
Cindy Noreen is the single mother of one daughter and the recipient of the January 1998 Achiever of the Month award. She needed assistance from the FIA when she separated from the father of her child. She had dropped out of school at the age of 17 and did not have her high school diploma. In an effort to improve her situation for herself and her daughter, Cindy returned to Adult Education in 1991 and obtained her diploma with honors. She then attended Ferris State University in the Fall of 1993 and graduated with honors in August of 1996 with an Associates Degree in Health Information Technology.
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