A mother and 9 year-old daughter became homeless after the husband/father abandoned them. Although the mother worked hard as a Nurse’s Aid, they had to resort to living in their truck. They ate at McDonald’s for a year because they didn’t have the means to prepare and store food.
Their situation was devastating to the daughter. She began to cry continually at school. She couldn’t eat or focus on her studies. All she did was draw pictures of a house with trees. When the School Counselor met with her, the Counselor discovered that they had been homeless for some time. This little girl couldn’t talk about the trials of being homeless, but the picture make it clear. She just wanted to have a safe place to call home instead of life’s uncertainty on the streets.
The Counselor referred them to an emergency shelter ran by the Volunteer of America where they stayed for 60 days. However, the shelter was only opened to them at night and they were still living in the truck or on the streets during the day.
The shelter referred this family to CHF. The daughter felt isolated by her circumstances. The poor child didn’t even have any toys, so one of the very first items of business was to give her a doll that she could call her own.
Today, she is a bright and happy girl. What a change! She feels safe and secure. She no longer cries or worries about food or where they will sleep because they live at CHF in a 2 bedroom duplex. Now she’s a normal little girl laughing and playing with her new found friends within the safety of Colorado Homeless Families.
Initially, the mother suffered from some health problems and required hospitalization. Now that she has recovered, she is preparing to enter nursing school which will ensure a significant source of income and will allow her to become economically self-sufficiency.
Metro Denver area (7 counties) and to help them become self-sufficient within 18 months to two years.