Homeless with 4 Kids
Donation protected
It was New Year's Eve. My husband Neil pulled up to drop me off at the door of the Ambassador Hotel—I was thankful—the walk to the car let me know just how cold it was outside. We ordered our hors d'oeuvres just in time for the end of happy hour and made it back by 8:30 so we decided to watch movies. At around 9pm we hear a knock at our door.
A good friend of ours was pacing and distraught as he revealed that he had a homeless mom and 4 kids in his car. He told us that he took them to the Salvation Army and was turned away and she couldn't go to Joy House because she had already been through their program and needed to wait 90 days. He didn't know what to do and considered calling his former employer to temporarily house them in their work space. Neil, a consummate polite Englishman, urged Alex to bring them into the house to spend the night. Remembering the chill of the night I couldn't imagine a family being on the street.
And that's how we met Takeila and her 4 young beautiful kids. Takeila is smart, organized and she's confident that she can secure any number of jobs—she's ready and willing to work. Stable housing appears to be the only obstacle. She had been staying with family, however her mom and grandmother simply don't have the space for her and and her four kids and found it a strain on their new romantic relationships. For the 24 hours she was under our roof, we observed a loving and incredibly patient mom and well-behaved kids between the ages of 2 and 7. She recently went through an intensive 2-week homeless program to help her find permanent housing however the program took twice as long because at least one of her kids seems to be sick almost all of the time and whenever that happened the free daycare center would call her to pick up the sick child. This appears to be an issue with employers as well. She would just get rolling with a new job and one of her kids would get sick...and then another...
Takeila applied for and received a $650 emergency check that will be made out to her landlord... if she can ever find a place that she can afford and a landlord who will accept that she does not yet have a job. She has been searching for subsidized housing and shared with me her organized binder with page-after-page documenting her unsuccessful attempts. Written in perfect penmanship I saw notes "accept only 62 year of age and over", "90 day waiting list", "no longer offer subsidized housing, lowest rent is $1,100 per month."
This funding will be used to bridge the gap and pay for the remainder of security deposit and first months rent, as well as used furniture and an emergency fund for sick child care service.
We can't solve Milwaukee's homeless problem overnight, however we can put one family in stable housing and help her with sick daycare for a period of time as she establishes a relationship with a new employer. When I see Takeila, I see someone who could easily be productive and suporting her family if she had a stable foundation of housing and child care. Help me to provide this foundation with your donation.
A good friend of ours was pacing and distraught as he revealed that he had a homeless mom and 4 kids in his car. He told us that he took them to the Salvation Army and was turned away and she couldn't go to Joy House because she had already been through their program and needed to wait 90 days. He didn't know what to do and considered calling his former employer to temporarily house them in their work space. Neil, a consummate polite Englishman, urged Alex to bring them into the house to spend the night. Remembering the chill of the night I couldn't imagine a family being on the street.
And that's how we met Takeila and her 4 young beautiful kids. Takeila is smart, organized and she's confident that she can secure any number of jobs—she's ready and willing to work. Stable housing appears to be the only obstacle. She had been staying with family, however her mom and grandmother simply don't have the space for her and and her four kids and found it a strain on their new romantic relationships. For the 24 hours she was under our roof, we observed a loving and incredibly patient mom and well-behaved kids between the ages of 2 and 7. She recently went through an intensive 2-week homeless program to help her find permanent housing however the program took twice as long because at least one of her kids seems to be sick almost all of the time and whenever that happened the free daycare center would call her to pick up the sick child. This appears to be an issue with employers as well. She would just get rolling with a new job and one of her kids would get sick...and then another...
Takeila applied for and received a $650 emergency check that will be made out to her landlord... if she can ever find a place that she can afford and a landlord who will accept that she does not yet have a job. She has been searching for subsidized housing and shared with me her organized binder with page-after-page documenting her unsuccessful attempts. Written in perfect penmanship I saw notes "accept only 62 year of age and over", "90 day waiting list", "no longer offer subsidized housing, lowest rent is $1,100 per month."
This funding will be used to bridge the gap and pay for the remainder of security deposit and first months rent, as well as used furniture and an emergency fund for sick child care service.
We can't solve Milwaukee's homeless problem overnight, however we can put one family in stable housing and help her with sick daycare for a period of time as she establishes a relationship with a new employer. When I see Takeila, I see someone who could easily be productive and suporting her family if she had a stable foundation of housing and child care. Help me to provide this foundation with your donation.
Organizer
Heather Perkins
Organizer
Milwaukee, WI
