Faces of Hope: Elijah
“I love to play the violin. I learned to play the cello, guitar and sing, too, when I went to a performing arts school in Albuquerque. I once auditioned for talent shows but my life was a mess. I lived in a tent in the backyard of my mom’s boyfriend’s house. They hate me. My mom did drugs and I did, too. They made me ask permission to come inside and shower. I could have left and stayed on the streets with my friends, but I only did more bad things. I drank, used and sold drugs. I didn’t make it past freshman year of high school. My little sister would often run away. I got so tired of the cycle and living that life. I wanted to die. So I began to overdose. When I overdosed a third time, I was in the hospital. My mom didn’t pick me…
Read More
Faces of Hope: Aaron
I came to The Mission veteran program on January 4. I’m originally from the southeast, Georgia. I served in the Army from 2008 to 2011. I did maintenance on the whole patriot missile system. I kept everything in working order. It was definitely an experience. I loved it. Every day you learned something new. You’re surrounded by like-minded people. It was a family. I came from a relatively broken home. I raised myself since I was pretty much 14 and went in to the Army right at 18. I never had a family since then. I got kicked out of the house for stupid stuff and chose to be an arrogant child causing trouble. I’m in touch with my mother and little brother. I don’t speak with my father. Since I got out of the military, I lived in Florida for about 7 years. I’m also an alcoholic. Eventually, I…
Read More
Faces of Hope: Molly
“I’m Molly and this is my family. My husband and three children and I have been staying here at Samaritan House shelter. But we had some cake today to celebrate—we’re moving out. We got housing through Salvation Army and we’re moving soon. It’s a three-bedroom, two-bath apartment. Samaritan House has been very helpful. They made sure we didn’t have out-of-pocket expenses. Having three meals a day definitely helped, too. We can’t wait to pay it forward. We want to come back and volunteer. Our experience with homelessness began two years ago. We went to the VOA because we didn’t get into Samaritan House. My husband lost his job and two months later we were evicted. We stayed with my husband’s mother, but she already had a full house. It was too much and we didn’t want to ruin that relationship. So we applied to stay here. It has been hard.…
Read More
Faces of Hope: women’s shelter
I’m 31 years old. I had a fiancé once, but he committed suicide. I also had a job at Good Times. Then my brother, who is mentally ill and schizophrenic, got my keys and took off with my car. My ID and wallet were in there. I lost it all. We had no other choice than to be at shelters. I’m so grateful for the people at the women’s shelter. They don’t want to see us as homeless. They give me a warm place to lay my head. I’m very thankful for this place. You feel so lonely sometimes, experiencing homelessness. I’m tired of being cold. But my number one goal is to take care of my brother. I want us to be back home so bad. We’re going to get home one way or another.
Read More
Faces of Hope: Rick
I’m Rick and this is my daughter, Marie. She’s 7 years old. We’re moving in to our own apartment this week. We’ve been staying on the family floor at Samaritan House shelter until we could get back on our feet. I was kicked out of my Lakewood apartment and we ended up in a hotel. I tried to make ends meet by driving for Uber, but we needed to get stabilized. The best part of Samaritan House is they helped me get her on a schedule. I was in combat arms in the army for seven years while in Germany. I now struggle with multiple sclerosis because of some nerve damage. They’ve adjusted to meet our needs here. There’s always someone to talk to. As long as you follow the program, they’re supportive of everyone. I took classes including love and logic, housing 101 and more. I made lots of…
Read More
Faces of Hope: Judy
My name is Judy, and I am 56 years old. I was working full time but then needed a total knee replacement. Since I was unable to work, after six weeks of not being able to pay my rent, I was kicked out. This began my journey of homelessness. I started out living in my car and then was able to get a good job. But I was in a car accident and totaled my vehicle. So, I had no place to stay and I was walking to work. So, I decided to go to Catholic Charities to ask about options for me. I learned about how to get into the residency program at The Mission- Catholic Charities – Larimer County. It was the answer to my prayers because I knew I could never survive on the streets. My case manager was an angel. She looked up resources, saved my bed…
Read More
Faces of Hope: Sherrell and Tiffany
Today our family is moving out of Samaritan House shelter. We found an apartment! We’re used to paying $525 for rent. Now we’re paying $1,350. The apartment has a lot of pluses. The boys will go to a good school in our neighborhood. We left our hometown in Illinois to seek a better life for our family. There were shootings and gang banging all around. I’ve been there. I’ve done it all. I lived that life. I don’t want my kids to live that life. This was my chance to make it better for my family. I’m 47 now and I’ve had three heart attacks. We’ve been together for 16 years. This was our first time away from home. When we came to Denver, we lived in a hotel with a voucher for a while. We felt down at first. But the good Lord didn’t have us go this far…
Read More
