The Beginning of a Bright Future
Cindy arrived in Orlando with bright hopes for her three children and her career. Both were in need of a boost – her middle daughter wasn’t doing well in school and the income from Cindy’s job wasn’t stretching far enough to support the family. “I thought a big city would have more opportunities for me […]
Selling My Father’s Ring
Jason and Evangeline were building a life together with their one year old son, Noah. However, Jason’s previous prison term proved to be a stumbling block as they looked for jobs and safe places to live. Evangeline worked in a fast food restaurant while Jason would wake up in the early morning hours to stand […]
Rediscovering Hope
Andrene was just a handful of semesters away from graduating Howard University with a degree in business. Her dream was to start a career that would earn enough to live beyond the poverty she experienced when she was a child. Then money ran out before she could complete her degree – and she had to […]
Forsaken But Not Abandoned: The Story of Carol
I am a mother with two beautiful girls. We are living at the Orlando Union Rescue Mission because the father of my children abandoned us. I stayed in that unhealthy, abusive relationship with my children’s father for a decade because my worst fears in life were to be homeless and to be a single parent. But […]
From Deep Despair… To Forever Together
“My four kids and I stayed at the Mission in 1993. We were there for nine months, three weeks, four days, 12 hours, and 20 minutes,” Barbara said with a smile. Why did she keep track? She was caught in the tension of being away from her husband due to a jail sentence and the […]
Angie’s Journey From Illness to Fulfillment
I became ill with a muscular skeletal disorder about 14 years ago. The illness was so complicated and hard to diagnose that I had to quit working while the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong. I was a single mother of three so my income was supporting the entire family. It was my […]
Cindy Pulls Success From Ashes of Despair
Cindy arrived in Orlando in 2011 with bright hopes for her three young children and her career. Both were in need of a boost – her middle daughter wasn’t doing well in school and the income from Cindy’s job wasn’t stretching far enough to support the family. “I thought a big city would have more […]
Brad Finds Redemption, Now Pays it Forward
Brad was a restaurant manager who seemed to have his life in place. His recreational drug and alcohol use was just a way to have fun and relax when he was not at work. But in 2008, the recreational use became a life-debilitating addiction. Money that went to pay the bills started going toward his […]
Past Mistakes Don’t Define Family’s Future
“We basically never practiced creating stability in our lives. I always spent whatever I earned and never prepared for anything,” recounted Rob as while describing his family’s chronic homelessness. His humility and blunt honesty are marks of a man who fully acknowledges his mistakes in the past because he’s learned they don’t have to define […]
Danielle Finds Redemption After Years of Turmoil
Danielle grew up learning a way of life from her mom that foretold a grim future. By the time she was 15, she had taken up her mom’s way of earning income – dealing drugs. She dropped out of high school and in 2003, at the age of 23, Danielle ended up in jail, losing […]