Against The Grain

One of our new moms has been bouncing from house to house for over a year.  She messed up and lost her place in Housing Authority.  She was homeless.  She has 3 kids and it was not uncommon for them all to be at different houses, there were other times when they would find a friend that would let them stay together for a few days.  As you can imagine this created incredible stress on the mom and the kids.  Recently, we helped the mother find full-time employment and through an introduction from AtG she was able to rent a house!  Have you ever seen the face of a women who has been homeless for a year the day that she gets her own place?  I have…and it is amazing.  Her entire countenance has changed.  She smiles more and her outlook on life is so much brighter.  Thanks to our partners…you are helping to transform lives and give hope to the hopeless.

Yesterday morning as I sat in the back of the room while we worked through the book "Get Out of That Pit" with our Saturday morning group, I was reminded of why we do this.  As the women began to share about their lives and the "pits" that they have been in and are currently in.  The women began to talk about the reality of living in abusive relationships.  This is a recall of the conversation as best I can remember it.  "You start a relationship with a guy who treats you great, but after a while things start to change.  He starts yelling at you and calling you names and he begins to hit you.  You want to leave but you have nowhere to go.  No transportation, no housing and your threatened that he will kill you if you leave.  It not just you that your worried about.  Its your kids too.  You can't understand if you've never been there." 
It was a sobering reminder that our moms and kids may face life and death situations each day when they go home and the need for AtG to open a residential community.  For more information on how you can be part of the solution please contact Rob at 791-7885 or email rob@atghope.org