StoryCorps: Safiyah Pankey and Kristen Obaranec
Safiyah Pankey is a member involvement coordinator at the Decatur Family YMCA, where she has worked since 1999.
Before moving to the South, Safiyah lived in Queens, NY, where she found herself on welfare and struggling to provide for her children.
Safiyah recently spoke with her colleague Kristen Obaranec about some of her earliest memories in New York.Broadcast version of story that aired Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2013
This story was recorded in partnership with the YMCA of Metro Atlanta and the Atlanta History Center, host of the Atlanta StoryCorps Studio.