“There’s a cul de sac, with a basketball court. The kids can rollerblade in the neighborhood. We’re near a park. They love it and they love their schools.”
Most of our clients have led difficult lives, and Charmaine is no exception.
Growing up in Sonoma County, she often felt like a nuisance to her parents and
step-parents. As a teenager, she stopped going to school – partly hoping that
someone would notice her unhappiness and intervene – and partly because she’d
already missed so much and felt like she’d never catch up. Her parents and
neighbors kicked her out of their homes, and she found herself homeless at age 16.
She drifted from job to job, from couch to couch. After a few years, Charmaine
realized that what she’d always thought of as “partying” had become a serious
problem. By this time, she had a 3-year-old daughter and was newly pregnant
with her second child. “I just woke up then. I had a flash,” she says. “I realized I
had to give them something different from what I’d had.”
That’s when Charmaine started accepting help, first through a recovery program,
and then through COTS. Can you give, so that when people ask for help and
healing, we can provide it?
“She worked harder than any other client I’ve worked with,” says Charmaine’s
case manager at COTS. “She listens to every suggestion and has an open heart.
She could make a lot of excuses about her past, but she never does.”
Charmaine saved her money, paid off an old debt and completed our tenant
education class, Rent Right, where she worked with a volunteer who cheered
her on in her housing search. Charmaine’s persistence paid off when she found
a landlord willing to rent her two bedrooms in the landlord’s private residence.
Now that her kids are established in a stable home, Charmaine has new plans.
“I really want to complete my GED and find a better job,” she says. “I spent half
my life homeless. The next half belongs to me and my girls.”