Rachel and her husband gave generously to help friends who couldn’t make ends meet. “But our friends used us, pretty much pushing us out on the street,” she says.
Drained of the little they had and now unable to afford rent, the young parents scrambled to secure safe housing. “We called over 40 shelters, and they were all full,” Rachel remembers.
Rachel’s husband worked odd jobs while she tried to help their two young kids escape the harsh desert heat. They’d sit for hours in a library. Sometimes she’d go to McDonald’s just to bathe her little ones in the sink.
They ended up on the streets, sometimes with only a tent or tarp. If they couldn’t get on their feet, CPS planned to adopt out their children. “It wasn’t fair,” Rachel says. “We weren’t bad parents – we just couldn’t get out of our situation.”
Rachel and her children entered a temporary women’s shelter – but her husband wasn’t allowed to stay.
Then Rachel discovered she was pregnant.
Fear of losing her children overshadowed the joyful news. But a new friend suggested Rachel’s family try the Mission.
Here, Rachel and her children received their own room in our family house. With her husband staying in our men’s area, the family enjoys more time together. “We even have a kitchen,” Rachel says. “We’re able to feed our children like we would in our own home.”
Today, Rachel’s family attends chapel together, her husband is looking for work and soon they’ll be moving into an apartment – “as a family,” Rachel says.
Because of your support, Rachel, and other mothers like her, find help and hope when they walk through the doors of Coachella Valley Rescue Mission – at Easter and always. “You don’t have to give up your kids because you’re homeless. The Mission has everything parents need.”
To read our most recent issue of A New Dawn, click here.
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