Congratulations go to Sheila, her daughter, and her granddaughter for getting into their own apartment today. This family just needed a hand up and by pooling their resources were able to get a place together. Read their story as written by Sheila’s daughter:

Twenty five long years had passed without connection or contact with my birth mother. She had not known where I was and I knew nothing of where she was, in fact, I was told she had passed away. My dad moved me away at the age of two, relocating me from California to his birth place, Chicago Illinois. After years of searching and nothing turning up, I was on the verge of giving up, just when a social media site called Facebook, ended the disconnection. Now 28 years old with a 7 year old daughter of my own, I wanted nothing more than to gain all of the years I had lost with the woman who gave birth to me. After getting to know each other, I came to the realization that she needed me just as much as I needed her. She was experiencing medical issues mentally and physically that required help around the clock. I made up in my mind that I would not lose her a second time, and decided to move myself and my daughter to California where she was to be there to help as much as possible. I got to California thinking that it would be a smooth transition, put my daughter into school and started looking for work, only to find out that the housing property she was living at would not allow me nor my daughter on her lease due to an eviction I knew nothing about back in Chicago. It has forced me to become homeless and move my daughter around from place to place so that she wouldn’t have to experience homelessness the way I am. I tried every housing resource given to me, only to be turned away because I hadn’t been homeless long enough or my daughter was over the age limit for help. This left me feeling discouraged and lost, worrying about being there for my mother and my daughter. I didn’t know where to turn. Then my mom mentioned your program and we decided to look into it, thank God we did. We were able to find a property that would accept my credit background and rent to us. Now we are faced with providing a deposit, which neither one of us can afford right now. It would mean a lot to us if you would help. We are in serious need of help so that we can stay together as a consideration and we hope that you can help in any way possible.