Lloyd and Juliette Boggs met while attending International Business College in Fort Wayne. She was going for medical assisting and he was studying computer programming. One of Juliette’s friends had gone to high school with Lloyd. “I thought he was cute. I said can you introduce me to him because I think he’s my future husband.”
In 2007, they were married. Four years later, they brought twin boys Desmond and Harrison into the world. But before they got a chance to settle into parenthood, life threw them a curve ball. When he was only two days old, Desmond had to have open heart surgery and spent six weeks in the hospital in Indianapolis.
Lloyd and Juliette overcame this challenging period in their lives, but two years later, more misfortune came their way. “We’ve been through a lot, but we’ve always stayed positive because we always had each other,” Juliette said.
As their sons were about to turn four, they looked into preschool options but couldn’t find any they would afford. Then, in early 2015 they discovered Brightpoint Head Start.
Desmond and Harrison settled into preschool and finished out the school-year. In the fall, they enrolled again and Lloyd and Juliette began volunteering. Lloyd found that he was getting things out of the experience that he hadn’t anticipated.
“I was going through a really difficult time,” said Lloyd. “When the boys started in the program and we began to get more involved, it boosted my self-confidence.” He said through his volunteer work, he was learning how to manage his time, facilitate meetings, and make decisions.
With his newfound confidence, Lloyd decided to re-enter the job market and got a better job as a field service technician for a national drug store chain. “I wouldn’t even be in this position without Brightpoint.” With Lloyd’s new job and increase in pay, the Boggs would longer qualify for the Head Start program, but they are glad it was there when they needed it. They are paying it forward by continuing to volunteer for Head Start even though their sons have now moved on to kindergarten.
The Boggs credit Head Start for giving Desmond and Harrison the tools they needed to be successful in school: “They learned to love learning at Brightpoint.” And Lloyd and Juliette learned new skills for getting through tough times.