February 10, 2026
The end of January each year marks my birthday, followed by my anniversary of when I started working at CCHCC.
This year, I have just turned 60 years old, and marked my 29th anniversary of being on staff at CCHCC. I feel so deeply grateful to have landed in this community and at this amazing organization!
Next year, CCHCC will be celebrating our 50th anniversary! And I will be celebrating my 30th anniversary with the organization. It is amazing to think of this!
The work we do at CCHCC is difficult, and never more so than right now as healthcare and housing and public benefits are being eroded right before our eyes. All too often, we are encountering clients who are in very desperate situations or who are experiencing crises.
But every single day at CCHCC, we are doing the work that transforms people’s lives, and I could not be more proud of our organization and the amazing staff members I get to work with every day, and our very supportive Board Members.
As an example of how the work we do transforms people’s lives, I want to share a client story with you from Ashley Buckley, our staff member who helps homeless individuals qualify for Medicaid and SNAP. Ashley goes far beyond her job description and often ends up helping homeless individuals apply for housing opportunities, helping them complete applications and navigate the housing “system” in order to reduce the barriers they might encounter if they are left to do it on their own.
Please see Ashley’s story below:
“I met J when I was tabling at the Daily Bread. He is a very kind men who needed assistance with housing and had been referred to several places for assistance, but was confused on where to start. He just turned 56 and was looking for senior housing. I invited J to come to the office when he had time and I would help him go through applications that would place him on the waitlist for several subsidized housing locations. Typically, it’s difficult to get people in to the office after meeting with them at Daily Bread, but he showed up later that evening and had his ID and SSI information ready to share. I could tell that he had a long day, but he was still smiling and happy to get the assistance that he needed.
We went through several applications, and he needed assistance reading some of the documentation and filling out the information, which I was happy to help with. After we finished I gave him additional resources to other locations, such as Promise Healthcare and PACE. He had a knee that had been bothering him, and sleeping on friends ’ sofas or at the shelter had caused it to swell and become more painful. He declined any emergency services and said that he would manage.
We kept in touch, and he became an advocate for people he met on the streets or at Daily Bread, helping them get into our office for Medicaid or SNAP assistance. He knew we had Spanish speakers on staff (Adani, Chris, and Iris) and would bring in those who needed help, regardless if he understood them or not. He always took a few of my cards each time he stopped in and always had a smile on his face even after months passed with no word from the applications we placed. His knee had not gotten any better, and he had started seeing providers at Carle who could help him manage the best he could until he was able to find a stable apartment.
After 6 months of waiting, we heard back from Sunnycrest that he had been accepted for housing there and that he needed to complete the full application and sign the lease. I was able to communicate with the landlord and manager of Sunnycrest and J’s son to help him complete the rental assistance application so he could move in without having to pay the deposit and the first month’s rent. I was very excited to hear that my client had finally been accepted into housing that he desperately needed. He could start looking into planning surgery for his knee now that he had his own space to heal in.”
Ashley’s story about J is just one of the many, many stories of the daily work that CCHCC staff members do in our community.
I count my lucky stars that I have had this opportunity to work for such an amazing community-based non-profit organization! We never shy away from the hard work that is required of us – the work that transforms our community members’ lives.
I hope I can count on your support for CCHCC. If you are able to do so, please consider making a contribution to CCHCC to help support our work.
Support CCHCC!
Thank you for your support!
Sincerely,
Claudia Lennhoff
Executive Director
Champaign County Health Care Consumers