Client Stories

Connie Chapin

"Give a woman a fish and she'll eat for a day, but teach a woman to fish and she'll eat for a lifetime," a variation on the old saying, couldn't be more true than for Connie Chapin.

Connie is a former Hopelink client and owner of Angelfish Swimming in Kirkland. She named her swimming lesson business "Angelfish" after Hopelink's assistance enabled her to turn her attention away from feeding her family and heating the house and toward creating a source of income - and food and heat - for herself and her children.

After working for 10 years in the aerospace industry, Connie quit to stay home with her four children. Things fell apart soon after when she and her husband divorced. Facing legal expenses and household bills, and without a job that would cover daycare costs, Connie found the cupboards and refrigerator starting to get bare. She turned to Hopelink's food bank. The agency also provided assistance in paying her energy bills.

"All this happened as I was trying to figure out a new direction," Connie said. "I didn't know how I was going to support my family long term, but at least we had food and heat. I was receiving fish, but I needed to learn how to fish for myself."

Looking at the dilapidated, 22-year-old swimming pool in her back yard one day, it came to her: she could try teaching swimming lessons for a living. With lots of elbow grease, Connie got the pool ready for swimmers. Her neighbors committed to sending their children to her for lessons, and Angelfish Swimming was born. Connie's swim classes now reach 200 children in the summer and 100 children in the winter, and the income has enabled Connie to install a portable dome cover, heat the pool, and keep it in good running condition.

Connie fondly remembers the assistance from Hopelink. "My kids learned a lot about what it means to be charitable," she reflected, "and also what it means to ask for help. Hopelink exists to help people, to provide fish so they can eat while they're learning how to fish for themselves, and retain their dignity in the process."