Change can mean good things too.

Viviane was a single mother to a toddler, struggling to earn enough to cover rent and food while working the night shift at a local casino. Her arduous schedule allowed her to be home to care for her son during the day (he slept most nights at his grandmother’s house), but it was wearing on Viviane.

“I was like a zombie working nights then staying up with him all day,” she recalls. But a daycare center was out of the question: the fees were nearly as much as she was earning, so she’d barely be breaking even.

Then a coworker told her about Head Start.

After enrolling her son in the program, everything started to change for Viviane. “Now that I had a childcare option for him, my life totally opened. I could pick the job I wanted because I could work days. That meant I could earn more money.” Eventually, Viviane obtained a new job that paid better and allowed her to be home on weekends with her son.

The change meant good things for her son, too. “It was amazing when he started there. He had bad food allergies, and Head Start was a huge help because they could feed him the foods he needed but that I couldn’t afford,” explains Viviane.

Head Start also gave her son a foundation to succeed in school. “He was so well prepared for kindergarten—he could write his name, he knew his numbers, he knew his alphabet and his sounds.

He went to kindergarten ready and did well because of Head Start.”

Viviane’s experience with the program several years ago was so positive that she enrolled her younger daughter there, too. “She’s been improving a lot with her letters and numbers. I can help her at home, but English is not my first language so I’m grateful for what they teach her.”

Viviane can’t imagine where she’d be without the program. “The idea of it makes me panic. Without Head Start, I would not be able to pay my rent or eat. The staff, they have been my angels. They all helped me so much.”

That’s why Viviane, who was able to continue her education in part because of the support from Head Start, is intent on giving back to others as she pursues a career as an immigration attorney.

“After being in the situation that I was in, I want to help others. The women at Head Start gave me so much hope, they opened their arms to me.

If you need it, they’re going to help you, just like they helped me.” ●