Being homeless for a night is scary enough but imagine what it would be like to be homeless for almost 2,000 nights. That was the reality for Denise, who lived without a home for five years. She described her life as “a living nightmare” that was “mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting, depressing, and hopeless.” Overwhelmed by it all, she hated her life and lived in shame. Denise couldn’t believe that her life had stayed that way for so long. That is, until she got connected to Goodwill’s Foundational Community Supports (FCS) program.
She was placed in the hands of a caring and compassionate case manager who fought for Denise to find a home. With this support and financial assistance to cover move-in costs, she was able to move into her own place. Goodwill also provided funds for essential needs to furnish her apartment, making it a space that felt like home. “Goodwill gave me my life back,” she said.
If it weren’t for the support getting off the streets, Denise feels that she would still be living in her van, alone and afraid. But now, Denise says that her life is awesome, and she has found her sense of happiness again. “I feel secure, grateful, and I am safe from living in fear and uncertainty,” she said. She is finally experiencing things that she was not able to while she was homeless. One of those experiences is sleeping in a bed.
Her case manager said, “Denise was so excited to finally have a bed after five years of being homeless. She wanted a memory foam mattress and luckily, we found one at Eddie Buddy’s and she cried. She told me that after it was delivered, she laid on it all day not wanting to move and cried tears of happiness to be on a bed.”