Kathy and the key to a new home
And new dreams, after years of homelessness
We first met Kathy when she and her child arrived at The
Sophia Way Emergency Winter Shelter, operated by Catholic Community
Services. They had each other and little else. Kathy had been on the road
for a long time, traveling across the country to escape domestic violence
in her home state. She left a good paying job and everything else in order
to find a better situation for herself.
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Kathy
got the keys to her new home just a few weeks back. New city, new life -
we couldn't be more excited for her!
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After staying at
various shelters in several states for the past four years, Kathy came to
our Eastside Emergency Winter Shelter late last year. We soon had an
opening at Sophia's Place, our programmatic shelter, and she moved in
there. Once her immediate needs of shelter and food were taken care of, we
discussed how we could help her find a more permanent place to live.
Despite being in a new city with minimal resources and no
contacts, Kathy found her own housing and did all of the legwork herself,
with a little bit of our help. Fortunately, she was approved for housing
under section 8 at the beginning of this year. Just a few weeks back, she
moved into her own home in Bellingham, with her child, and is in the
process of getting settled for the first time in a long while. One of our
case managers, Rebecca, accompanied her to the housing and helped her get
comfortable. We provided her with all of the household items she needed,
donated by generous donors like you, to get started in her new life in a
new city.
In a situation that
would have been intimidating for anyone, Kathy was her own best advocate.
She took care of herself. She had a lot of spirit and she was never too shy
to ask for the help that she needed. Thanks to her hard work and
resilience, she is well on her way to living a normal life again.
Kathy was an amazing client and a good friend to many people
at the shelter. She stays in contact with her friends she met through the
program and we are very happy to have known her!
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