Mary’s Story

Mary made the difficult decision to leave an emotionally abusive relationship. With nowhere else to go, she purchased a tent and camped out on a friend’s property with her four children. Every morning she would take the children to a friend’s house to bathe and then take them to school.  From there she would go to her job as a department store manager in a major department store.  As the weather got colder, she could no longer deal with the pressure of leaving a 12-year relationship, being homeless, trying to keep her children in school, and maintaining her job.

She took a leave of absence from her job and was fired.  She went into a shelter program where she and the children would sleep in churches at night and then be gone during the day.  She was referred to Helping Hand House by one of the churches.  She entered into our emergency housing and was then referred to the Bright Futures program of transitional housing.  She is currently working 30 – 35 hours per week and is now in the process of starting her own business.