We want to congratulate Jenna, Walter, and their daughter for ending their homeless situation today by getting into their own place. We were able to help them over this last hurdle by paying their security deposit. Here’s their story in Jenna’s own words:

“My family and I were renting a room that we found on Craigslist. On January 16, 2015, we were jumped and robbed by the landlords. We called the police, who came out and agreed that, for the safety of our daughter, we should leave. They agreed to escort us at a later time to retrieve our belongings. This all occurred on a Friday,and they could not assist us to retrieve our things until that next Sunday. By that time, most everything was gone, including $3500 in specialty tools that my fiance required to work in the plumbing industry. It was more of a loss of livelihood than a loss of material things. From there, we stayed in motels for as long as we could. When we could not anymore, we sought the shelter of Mercy House. We stayed with Mercy House’s ‘Family Redirection Program’ where we excelled with case managers by following every step of the program. When presented an application for their Rapid Re-housing, we eagerly filled it out, but were discouraged to be told the funding was low and that we should begin to search for other agencies that had funding. During the search for assistance, we stayed with Mercy House’s program and we shared space with two other families. In this space, we could leave the bulk of our belongings (at this point, 2 trash bags with what was left from the robbery). One day, we came back to the shelter to find that one of the families that we shared this space with had left and taken our two trash bags with them. It was all gone, so we again sought other shelter. We researched and found Family Promise, where we have a place to take care of business throughout the day, a room of our own to sleep in at night, and a support system that helps us navigate through this journey. That brings me to you, Off the Streets, who will be the next blessing that helps my family get back to stability.