A Dream Come True

My name is Ally Alicki and I am a current participant of Ripple of One. I will be graduating from the program in July and hope to be able to come back and serve other clients in the area of health and wellness, as this is something that is so important to me. I am thankful that I was asked to share my story with you and give encouragement to those who need it the most. During my marriage, I experienced a lot of verbal assault, sexual violence, and isolation from my family and church. Due to the isolation from a core support system, I always found myself returning to my abuser. When my daughter began to ask about church and who God was, I used that as a reason to be able to go to church and build relationship, so I could finally leave the abuse for good.

After building those relationships and connecting with my boss and sharing what was going on, I found a place for the children and I to go and left him for good. With the encouragement of a coworker and my boss, I finally applied for the Ripple of One program. I knew I needed help with learning how to budget and the support system sounded amazing!

Over the past two years in the Ripple Program, I have grown and learned so much about myself. My relationship with God has done nothing but grow! With the encouragement of my team, I mustered the courage to go back to school. Originally I thought I would get my degree in nursing, but after a year of taking courses I realized that wasn’t God's plan for my life. This time last year, I heard clearly from the Lord that I was to attend Southern Wesleyan University. How can this be possible considering I didn't have the funds to obtain a Bachelor's Degree? I felt the Lord remind me of the call I felt on my life to help others who had been through the same things as myself, so I applied for SWU!

I was accepted really quickly into the human services program at SWU and I knew that this was God’s plan for my life. The only issue was the funds. While being in Ripple, I am supposed to be working on getting rid of debt and not gaining debt, so taking out student loans was not an option for me. Thankfully another Ripple client had shared with me about a Scholarship Program that helped women who have been through intimate partner or domestic violence. I applied for the scholarship, even though it wasn’t an easy process. I had to completely write out the story of the trauma that I experienced over the past 9 years.

Unfortunately, the process for that scholarship takes around 2 months to complete and I didn’t apply until July. I was so afraid that I wasn’t going to get it in time, but I was able to take out a loan to be able to begin the semester on time. In November, I finally heard back from the Scholarship program and I had been approved for the remainder of the balance for my tuition and I was able to send the loan money back. This was another sign that I was exactly where I was supposed to be! For the first time in a long time, I felt that I was moving in the right direction with my Ripple team walking alongside me every step of the way! After two short semesters, I was able to graduate with my Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services while making the Dean’s List both semesters.

The same day as graduation, I received the email that I had been accepted to USC in the Social Work program. My ultimate goal is to receive my Master’s and get licensed so that I begin to counsel and help other women who have been through similar situations as I have.

I am thankful that I have so much support and encouragement from my team at Ripple. Even though taking out the loan wasn’t something that my team wanted me to do, they supported and trusted me in my decision making. We are all moving and growing together and are better for it! I truly am thankful for the transformation that has occurred in my life and the relationships I've made while in Ripple of One.