family begins to thrive
at Our House
By Ben Goodwin, Grants Manager
Melissa came to Our House eight months ago with her kids, Kaleb and
Zadie, and a mission to turn their lives around. Considering everything
Melissa had been through before coming to Our House—including
homelessness, extreme poverty, drugs, and prison—the progress she and
her family have made since arriving is remarkable. She has held down
a full-time job, saved a considerable amount of money, paid off fines
and past-due bills, worked toward her GED, and put herself and her
family in a great position to succeed on their own. Her kids have thrived
as well. Zadie has blossomed from a shy and withdrawn first-grader to
a confident, outgoing second-grader. She brought her reading skills up
to grade-level and discovered a love of books. Kaleb has worked through
some emotional issues himself. He is excelling in school and is being
tested for admission into his school‘s gifted and talented program.
What is even more notable is how Melissa has not just focused on her
own family but has gone out of her way to help other residents as well.
For instance, she not only helped her own children sign up for football
and cheerleading through the community center but worked with other
parents to sign up all the children in the Family House (where she and
her kids live) for these activities. She helped prepare a new garden bed
in the Our House garden, and she shared the abundance of tomatoes
and cucumbers with all of the Family House residents. Altogether, she
has helped build a strong, tight-knit community among the residents of
the Family House. They cook meals together, work through problems
together, and share their lives in ways that make each of them stronger.
This is the spirit of Our House: people helping each other overcome
hardship and building a community in the process. Even Zadie has
caught the spirit; she recently gave her bicycle to a new girl in the afterschool program who was going through a difficult time.