The Paden City Development Authority welcomes the Wetzel-Tyler office of Community Resources, Inc., to the Paden City Health and Recreation Center. Pictured from left: Joel Davis, Paden City Councilman; Dale Henry, PCDA, Johanna McGinnis, custodian; Patti Casteel, PCDA; Beth King Tuttle, CRI; and Bill Fox, PCDA. Back row: Tom Martin, PCDA; and Larry Potts, PCDA. Other PCDA members, not pictured, are Cork Bowen, Tom Yarron, Richard Gallagher, Richard Wright, and Jack Cox.

The Wetzel-Tyler office of Community Resources, Inc. has opened a new office in the Paden City Health and Recreation Center, the old Paden City Middle School.

The office, located at 425 S. Fourth St., Paden City, is open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. For an appointment call 304-337-4208.

Community Service Specialist Beth King Tuttle can help area residents through many programs. One of those is the Family Development Counseling program that is designed to help families that meet income guidelines to become independent rather than dependent on assistance from other agencies.

The family development model requires one-on-one meetings with families to develop goals, manage finances, and provide support and assistance. Each of the family development programs comes with first-hand assistance to not only help families make ends meet, but also to educate and work closely with families to make changes in their lives that will help them become more self-sufficient.

The FDC program matches families with a CRI Customer Service Specialist. These specialists work directly with families to provide them with opportunities to develop new skills to improve different areas of their life. The program is proving to be very successful.

Other CRI family development programs like Dollar Energy, LIHEAP, and access to emergency food pantries help families and individuals make it through tough times by providing them with a little help. Whether it is helping with winter energy bills or helping parents put food on the table, the family development counseling program aids families as they work their way back out of their hardship and into a life of self-sufficiency.

CRI also gives organizations a chance to be involved. CRI works with service organizations, such as churches and community groups, to provide aid for families in need through their FDC program. Some families are with hardship, but are not quite eligible, based on income guidelines, for FDC services. CRI also works with community organizations to help these families through referrals.

Each of CRI’s family development programs helps families in need with the assistance they need to make it through another month and provides them with the education and one-on-one interaction that helps families lift themselves out of their situation and into self-sufficiency.

Some examples of ways that CRI has helped families:

-Help with the purchase of work clothes, boots, coats, gloves, etc.

-Provide a laptop to a student enrolled at West Virginia Northern Community College and also helped this individual purchase rims for tires so that the individual would have reliable/safe transportation to and from school.

-Provide funding (application fee) to help with obtaining CDL license in order for the individual to take the exam.

-Help with payment on tuition for individual to take phlebotomy classes at the Mid-Ohio Valley Technical Institute.

These are only a few ares in which CRI has assisted or helped individuals on their FDC program achieve success in their efforts to reach their goals of being dependent and able to provide and take care of themselves and their families.