Cover Story: 3 Alumni Profiles, pages 4 to 19
Above: Mary & Josie (daughter of Child Care Coordinator Andrea Lee) admire Easter eggs
dyed by Tyrique & the other Little Learners during a FRESH volunteer project.
Right: Mary’s family’s home in a natural, woodsy location gives her sons plenty of room for
playing, including balancing on the new tree swings & climbing rope built by Mary’s boyfriend.
After a period of excitement, fear, occasional struggle, and
adjustment, Mary found herself and her children making strides
as a single-mother family in the shelter and departed in 2009 an
“ emotionally and spiritually balanced person.” Mary credits the
tough love she received from case management and veteran
shelter presences like Operations Manager Corey Ford, a former
resident. Mary says, “there were times they made me upset, and
I wasn’t really grateful until I left.”
The same Mary Shue that found stability at Our House as a
resident has returned a leader—a steady worker, an amazingly
dedicated mother, a board member, and a centered organizer and
mind behind Our House’s alumni association, FRESH. She advises
any currently struggling resident to “take it all one day at a time.
Nobody is on all the time and there will be bad days. Spend time
with the good guys and they will help you along, and—as hard as
it is to understand sometimes—the employees are only here to
help you. They are hard because they care.”
continued on page 10: Michael’s profile