Success Stories
Success Story #1 After finding an ad to do work from home in the local newspaper, a young lady
from Iraq sent almost fifty dollars to a PO Box number and received back some
very difficult instruction on how to find homes that had been repossessed. She
was unable to understand the very difficult directions and was ready to throw
the paperwork into the garbage when she realized she might get some help from
one of our CCMAA volunteers. After checking over the paperwork, the volunteer
called the company but was unable to reach them by phone. He wrote a letter to
the PO Box number, mailed it registered mail, asking for her money back. A few
weeks later a check came in the mail to this family of ten people with a check
that not only returned the original amount but also included the postage. A young Iranian mother of three children realized how stressful it is to be
in a country that doesn’t speak her language decided to join a health club to
relieve the everyday stress. She joined a health club and signed a contract to
allow the club to deduct the membership fees from her checking account . A few
months later, she lost her job and tried to cancel the membership fees that were
being deducted automatically from her account. The health club told her that she
signed a contract and she needed her doctor to certify that she could no longer
use their facilities or to relocate to another state that didn’t have their club
there. She asked a CCMAA volunteer to help her with this problem. He called and
sent a letter to the health club indicating that this lady could no longer
afford the fees being deducted from her account but they ignored her request. He
then took her to her bank and closed her checking account. The health club no
longer could deduct from her closed account and a new letter was mailed to the
health club that strong and clear enough that she hasn’t been contacted by the
health club since. A Bosnian father of three children put a one thousand dollars deposit down on
a house. The Realtor made him aware he had thirty days to get a loan to purchase
the Hartford house. In the mean time, the Bosnian father received an urgent call
from his mother back in Bosnia that she had broken her arm and needed his help
there. He got the first plane out and didn’t think to notify the Realtor that he
could not fulfill his part of the contract. When he got back from Bosnia he went
to the Realtor and asked for his deposit back. The Realtor told him that because
he didn’t notify them he forfeited his $1,000 deposit. CCMAA heard his story and
got involved. Writing a letter to the Realtor didn’t work so it was necessary to
go to Small Claims Court. After the judge read the lengthy report prepared by
the CCMAA advocate, he issued a letter to the Realtor to give the money back to
the father. After about two weeks, the father received his money back.
The start of the year was joyful to some people but not to
the people who lived above a bakery in the south end of Hartford. On January
1st there was a terrible fire that left six families homeless. The CCMAA was
there to help, and help we did. After taking some Albanian family members
down to the City of Hartford Department of Licenses & Inspections for proof
that their apartments were condemned and not fit for human occupancy,
the members were then taken by one of volunteers along with a translator to
the Red Cross to get furniture and bedding. This is just one of many success
stories the CCMAA has for the year and there are much more to come.
Success Story # 2
Success Story # 3
Success Story # 4
