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Local resident gives back to community
By
STEVEN C. STANDRIDGE HARRISBURG, Pa – As a small child riding a train to Philadelphia, Karol Tasker was happy. She thought about tea parties with her grandmother, holidays, and family trips. Tasker would look out the train’s window and dream of the future. She had no idea at the time that her future would include being shot six times and ending up in a coma. Tasker is now 35. She is the Senior Case Manager at DELTA Community, Inc., a life-training/housing program. While she now spends her days helping people get back on their feet, there was a time when she herself needed the aid of DELTA. Tasker married when she was 19. She admits that marrying so young was probably not a good idea. She moved to Oakland, California with her husband and two young children, Keryne and Dennis. It was in Oakland that she experienced what would be one of her most trying moments. One day while Tasker was on the street, gunshots echoed through the air. She was hit six times and barely survived. After she recovered from her near-fatal injuries, she decided she could not live there anymore. Her husband refused to relocate, so she took her children and moved back to Harrisburg, where she grew up. Things back in Harrisburg were not exactly as she had left them. Her mother had sold the house she grew up in. She ended up living in other people’s homes for a while. “That was so hard,” says Tasker. “My children had never lived in an unstable environment.” Tasker says that she was at wit’s end when she arrived at DELTA’s doorstep. “I was just looking for housing, and I found so much more,” she says. What she found was a program that provides housing while at the same time trains participants to get back on their feet. Her mentor, former DELTA Director Sharon Hinkermeyer, was always there with affirmation. Tasker says that while Hinkermeyer would do anything to help, she was not afraid to confront a participant on an issue. Tasker earned an associate’s degree in social work from Harrisburg Area Community College with the help of the people at DELTA. She began steady work with a mental health organization. Everything seemed to be going her way. In 1998, Tasker fell ill due to unresolved complications from her gunshot wounds and slipped into a coma. When she emerged from the coma 45 days later, she had to pick her life back up. Her employers assured her that she would have a job when she was able to return. This proved untrue. Once again, Tasker had to start over. She got the break she needed one day when she was at the DELTA office working on her resume. A case manager had just left the program, and they were looking to hire a new one. At first Tasker didn’t think about it, but she was encouraged to apply for the position and was hired. Tasker was excited to begin her own one-on-one work with program participants. Her first two graduates provided mixed emotions. One did not succeed and this Tasker blames on getting too close. “You want to do so much for them,” says Tasker. “Sometimes too much can be detrimental.” Tasker feels much better about her other graduate. This one became self-sufficient and learned to be a better parent. Life is once again rolling Tasker’s way. She is finishing her bachelor’s degree in social work. Her children are now 13 and 15 years old. She does not have any immediate plans to leave DELTA. “I want to continue with direct care,” says Tasker. “I really enjoy helping people see their own potential.” All stories in this magazine are the intellectual property of the individual
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