Stepheny brought her newborn daughter, Kaylee, home to a hotel.
After losing her trailer, Stepheny’s credit crashed and she became homeless. Shelters and room rentals were unsafe for her daughters, so hotels became the realistic option.
For 5 years, her family called hotels home while she worked as a personal caregiver. In between hotel stays, showering at truck stops became the norm and there was little hope to be found. But she held on for her girls.
Stepheny was relieved when she finally found an affordable home to rent in Jamestown through a connection at her daughter’s school, who also pointed her to Love Your Neighbor’s Life Skills Program. Shortly after joining, her landlord sold that home and she found herself back in hotels. Hopeless.
Several months into the program, Stepheny accessed Love’s Transitional Housing, and was able to spend Christmas in a stable home, where she was at peace, her baby was content, and her older daughter could finally get a job.
When we asked Stepheny what she achieved while being part of Life Skills she eagerly shared:
“I paid off over $10,000 in debt. I can now save money. I met a personal health goal. I have stable housing with a future housing plan in place. And the whole time, I could have hard conversations with Emile, my Life Skills Leader and my peer support Tracy walking with me, checking in on me. I didn’t have to do it alone.”
Give a gift to help local families like Stepheny’s shift out of survival mode: www.lovewm.org/#donate