Life-changing job
Aly McMillan helps the Temple community find solutions to problems
Story by Stacy Moser
Photo by Becky Stinehour
Aly McMillan makes her living much like Superwoman does — carefully watching over her city and stepping in when circumstances are beyond the ability of mere mortals to face.
She’s a down-to-earth, get-it-done kind of woman, so this comparison of her to a superhero probably would be met with a humble shrug and a self-deprecating comment. But those who work with her at Temple’s United Way office acknowledge that rarely does such a capable individual show up in such a youthful package.
Aly, 31, grew up in Folsom, California, and chuckles as she describes it. “It’s home to Folsom Prison, made famous by Johnny Cash, and a pretty big lake.” She married her high-school sweetheart, Nick McMillan, and, a few years after he enlisted in the Army, the couple relocated to Copperas Cove in 2009.
“It was the absolute peak of the Great Recession right when I was moving across the country, starting married life and with no work experience because I’d just graduated college,” she remembers ruefully. “I tried a couple of jobs that didn’t make me happy, which was the incentive I needed to earn my master’s degree. That’s what introduced me to social work, which I absolutely love.”
She and Nick welcomed two baby girls to their family (now ages five and three) and settled in Morgan’s Point Resort.
“It’s known for having more deer than people,” Aly acknowledges, smiling. “We actually found a condemned fixer-upper and did minimal repairs to get it ‘not condemned’ by the county, so we have a house very close to the lake. We walk there all the time with the dogs and kids.”
Nick retired from military life and is now attending school, studying fisheries and wildlife sciences. “He works with the Army Corps of Engineers as a park ranger,” she explains proudly. “It’s his dream job.”
Aly’s career kicked into high gear in 2013 when she was hired by the United Way of Central Texas in Temple.
“That was the first year the health-insurance marketplace was available,” she said. “I started as the lead health-insurance navigator — helping people who didn’t understand the process of getting insurance. The UWCT’s goal is to help people who need resources to find them — so their problems won’t snowball into other areas of their lives, causing bankruptcy or pushing them to use payday loans or those sorts of things.”
Aly’s responsibilities at the United Way have grown and her title, vice president of Community Impact, reflects the focus of her work — creating strategies to help people not only cope with health-related problems but also with other difficulties they encounter.
“The most rewarding part of my job, hands down,” she said, “is meeting with agencies — seeing how fired up they are about brainstorming ways to solve community problems. There’s nothing more wonderful than bringing together a group of passionate people to create change. We know what the problems are. But what do we do about them?”
Aly is the project director for state and federal grant programs, and she oversees a number of UWCT’s community-assistance programs.
“Take the 2-1-1 Call Center Program,” she said. “Our Texas network of call specialists refers people to agencies that they may get help from. For instance, if you need food, they’ll recommend food pantries and then explain how to apply for food stamps. Ultimately, they want to know what happened that caused problems for you. Is your electric bill is too high? Did you get into a car accident and have extra bills? The specialists find long-term services to help you. It’s pretty cool because many people are unaware of where to go for help. They feel very trapped when they hit a crisis. There are agencies all over the state of Texas that’ll help. You just have to call 2-1-1 to find out where they are.”
She gives another example of how the UWCT responds to local needs. “The chief medical officer at Baylor, Scott & White, Dr. Robert Probe, approached us saying he had a hip-replacement patient who couldn’t afford her pain medication following surgery. Because of that, she didn’t get up and move around and the replacement didn’t heal correctly. He approached us and said, ‘This is the problem. How can United Way help?’
“We gathered a group of great people and what came about was a fund, Bridges to Wellness and Health, that anyone can donate to.” The fund provides short-term assistance with anything from durable medical equipment, prescription assistance or even transportation to a doctor’s office to those who apply and qualify.
“Our goal is to connect people to something sustainable so they can achieve the highest level of health possible. I love looking at big-picture solutions, looking at what happened, thinking about what we need to fix — and then fixing it!” she said.
When asked what she sees as a common misconception about challenges faced by low-income people, she quickly replies, “Think about what your life would be like for a day without a car. You’re relying on public transportation and you have to get to work. You also have to get to the grocery store and your kid has a recital after school. What time does the bus run? What time would you get home? If you work an overnight job, how would you get there if the HOP only runs during the day? You get a call from school that your kid is sick. How many bus transfers does that take?
Think about how that one factor — not having a car — will limit the jobs that are available to you and how it exacerbates your medical problems because you can’t get to doctors’ appointments reliably. The impact on your life is huge.”
Facing some of her community’s toughest problems on a day-to-day basis would be a struggle even for someone twice Aly’s age. When asked how she successfully shoulders so much responsibility, Aly shares that her parents deserve the credit. “My mom is that person who doesn’t understand the word ‘no.’ She will do everything possible to get where she needs to go. And, truthfully, as a kid, that drove me nuts! But I learned that when you face a closed door, you find another way in.
“My dad taught me never to give up. He was always working on cars as a hobby. There were times when he’d spend days rebuilding an engine, but then it wouldn’t start. He’d step back and ask, ‘What went wrong?’ and he’d figure it out. I learned from both of them that you don’t give up. If you need something, there’s always a way to get there.”
Aly admits that she’s learned from her own mistakes as well. “I will own the fact that I was a mean girl in my younger teen years. Then I switched high schools in my sophomore year and I was bullied myself. Some of my former best friends got an email address called AlyHaters@yahoo.com! It was a terrible year! So I saw both sides of the situation.
Why did I feel the need to be so mean? What do kids need in order not to bully each other? I built empathy and compassion by acknowledging what I had inflicted on others. I’m a far better person for having had that experience than I would have been.”
Being a parent has only served to increase her sense of empathy. “My oldest is fine now, but she had some special needs when she was really little and we drove to Austin constantly. I worked part-time and I remember thinking, ‘If I had a full-time job, I’d probably be fired by now.’ How do people do it? How does a situation like this affect those who don’t have the luxuries I have?”
She may not have Superwoman’s red cape or ability to fly, but Aly’s determination to help those in need seemingly knows no bounds.
