Helping FamilyMeans Celebrate 25th and 50th Anniversaries

Helping FamilyMeans Celebrate 25th and 50th Anniversaries

Dec 04, 2013

50 Stories for 50 Years, Volunteers, FamilyMeans Staff, CCCS

Jan Radinzel hasn’t been with FamilyMeans through its entire 50-year span, but she did start at the agency in January 1985, and has been around long enough to have had experienced a number of transformations.

Over the years, Jan has served as a volunteer and a receptionist. She has performed data entry, statistics, scheduling, billing, and transcribing. Today, Jan is a specialist for the Debt Management Program within FamilyMeans Consumer Credit Counseling Service, where she works with clients who get set up on financial plans following sessions with a FamilyMeans credit counselor.

She remembers the days when FamilyMeans had 10-15 clients enrolled in a financial program; today that number is 1,600 clients at any one time, thanks - in a large part - to joining the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and also advanced technology.

“So much of the work in my early days was manual. I remember having two typewriters in our offices and no computers,” said Jan, reflecting on changes since she’s been an employee. Growth has been another major change over the years including the number of employees and volunteers, clients served and the 2003 move to FamilyMeans’ current location. “Over the years I’ve seen more awareness to diversity, more formality in our staff meetings and more expertise in our employees’ niche areas.”  

Jan says for as much as things have evolved over the years, there are many consistencies.

“The professionalism at FamilyMeans remains the same. Employees are as dedicated to our mission today as they were when I started.”