As women leave an abusive situation, they seek emergency shelter. Then, as they imagine a new, safer, better life, they can move to transitional, independent living. There, they gain skills and access community resources to get back on their feet.
That’s where organizations like the Rebound Foundation come in.
“The women that we help out with the Rebound Foundation is women who are in shelter due to domestic violence. They are typical women that just don’t have a next step, and they need one,” said Christina Ford, president and CEO of the Rebound Foundation. “They need that time to either work on goals or just get some more skill sets or save some money before they become independent.”
Earlier this year, Missouri State University students in a business management class were assigned to assess a community organizations’ gaps or needs. Annice McLean, senior instructor in Missouri State’s College of Education, says that technology skills were recognized as a gap for the women at the Rebound Foundation.
The students then reached out to McLean and Dr. Ching-Wen Chang about offering classes to the women.
“We jumped at the chance to be involved, to offer our support for different areas of technology,” McLean said.
The three met to develop a plan and developed an initial list of basic information they thought would be relevant to anyone new to computers.
“Annice and I came out thinking, ‘this is what probably most people would need to know,’” Chang said. “Kind of a basic lesson and thinking once we met with them, we probably will get a better sense and we can adjust our lesson to tailor to what the individuals would need.”
While this is one example of using your talents to improve someone else’s experience, Ford says everyone has something they could give.
“We really rely heavily on volunteers, financial donations, and really people,” Ford said. “That’s really what it takes – everybody coming in with their expertise and kind of helping our ladies along the way, and also helping our organization.”