​Life doesn’t always follow a plan

Emily wasn't ready to leave immediately. After meeting with Beatriz, she kept in touch by email while she worked through what would need to happen. Leaving wasn't as simple as deciding to go. She needed a plan, a safe place for her children, and a way to begin again.The Family Center gave her time to prepare. Staff members helped her consider her options and work toward a plan for entering the emergency shelter. But life doesn't always follow a plan.

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In November, the day before she was scheduled to enter the shelter, circumstances forced Emily to leave sooner than expected. She was on the phone with Rachel and Victoria from the Family Center when she had to make a decision: leave that night and accept a hotel voucher, or wait.

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Looking back, she doesn't remember carefully weighing the options or making a conscious decision. She remembers packing a bag and leaving in almost a trance – as if her body knew how to be safe even if her heart and mind hadn’t yet caught up.

That night, she and her children stayed in a hotel. The following day, they entered the emergency shelter, and from there, Emily began the difficult work of rebuilding her life.

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Starting Over, One Step at a Time

Before leaving, Emily had been working nights as a janitor and had also taken a seasonal job at Target. Once she and her children entered the program, however, her circumstances changed. Night work was no longer practical without reliable childcare, and when the holiday season ended, Target did not retain her. She later found part-time work as a housekeeper at a casino, but the hours weren't enough to support her family. She needed full-time employment, and she was determined to find it.

For more than a month, Emily applied for at least three jobs a day while navigating the demands of raising four children and establishing a safe, stable life. The search was exhausting, but she refused to give up.

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In March 2026, an opportunity came through an unexpected connection. Someone who had previously participated in the Family Center's program and now worked at a local store learned of an opening and contacted the staff. Rachel passed the information along to Emily, who applied. She got the job. Today, Emily works full-time in the store's deli. Being hired was more than just having a paycheck. It meant being able to move toward financial independence and take the next steps toward permanent housing.

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The Family Center helped her navigate the complicated process of applying for housing through the local housing authority. Rachel assisted with applications and paperwork that Emily says she would have struggled to manage alone, especially with setbacks along the way. At one point, she was inexplicably removed from the housing waitlist and had to follow up to get the situation addressed. Without assistance, finding a place she could afford on her own would have been extremely difficult.

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For a family of five, affordable housing was essential, but it was easy to think the housing she needed would be out of reach. She did not lose hope and eventually the pieces began to fall into place.

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More Than a Roof Over Their Heads

Emily and her children recently moved into their new three-bedroom home. After months of uncertainty, the move represents something she has been working toward since the day she left: a place where she and her children can begin to settle into a different kind of life. She is still getting used to the idea that it is really hers.

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When asked what it feels like to have a home of her own, Emily describes the experience through a vivid image. “For so long, it feels like I've been neck-deep in mud,” she explains. “And I'm expected to run through it.” Now, with housing secured, she no longer feels she has to fight her way through the heaviness every moment. She can pause to catch her breath.

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She is still tired, and there is still plenty to do. A new home doesn't erase the challenges that brought her there, and building a life after years of instability takes time. But the mud is beginning to recede. “I don't think I've really believed it yet,” she says. Her children are adjusting, too. The transition hasn't always been easy, and leaving their former home meant leaving behind the familiar, even when the circumstances made that necessary. But Emily has begun noticing changes.

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Her children seemed more relaxed

“They're acting more like kids now,” she says. It can be exhausting having four children doing what children do, she admits, but with tenderness. In the exhaustion is the promise of normalcy.

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Children often adapt to difficult circumstances in ways adults don't fully recognize. The work of starting over involves not only finding a safe home, but also giving children the opportunity to relax, play, and grow without the stress and uncertainty they may have experienced before. For Emily, seeing her children begin to do just that is one of the most meaningful signs that things are changing.

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Finding Confidence in Her Own Future

While finding employment and housing were immediate priorities, Emily has also begun thinking about something she had put aside for years: going back to school.

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She earned an associate degree more than a decade ago, but returning to college had always seemed like a daunting undertaking and a complicated process. Then, during a life skills class at the Family Center, college representatives visited to talk about educational opportunities and transferring credits. She could build on what she had already accomplished instead of starting at the beginning.

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She applied and was accepted, although other circumstances eventually forced her to put the plan on hold. Still, that acceptance was proof that finishing school wasn’t a vague hope and now that she has secured housing and established a more stable routine, she is thinking about taking that step again.

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She says that for a long time she was in contradiction with herself - feeling capable of returning to school at the same time as feeling that she wasn’t. Now, she is learning to trust the part of herself that says she can. “I'm a lot more resilient than I thought I was,” she says. “And more capable of making decisions.” That realization may be one of the most important things Emily has gained through this experience.

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Do the hard thing if it's the right thing

The process of leaving, finding work, navigating housing applications, and building a future for her children has required her to make difficult decisions under difficult circumstances. Each choice has given her another opportunity to recognize her own abilities. She is no longer imagining a different future. She is creating one, and whether she returns to school exactly as planned or discovers a different direction along the way, she knows that the choice will be hers. Owning herself, owning her choices, is freedom.

The support Emily received through the Family Center extended beyond emergency shelter, employment, and housing. Over the summer, her two oldest children participated in a mentoring opportunity with volunteers. When the children wanted to bake, their mentors helped them use the kitchen to make cookies and other treats. They loved it.

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For Emily, these opportunities are another part of helping her children settle into a new life, one where they have room to explore their interests, learn new skills, and simply be kids. When she thinks about what she hopes her children will take away from this experience, she comes back to a simple principle: “Do the hard thing if it's the right thing,” she says. “Don't take the easy way out just because you don't feel like it.” She knows that doing the hard thing is what made this better future possible.

Emily is still settling into her new home and finding her footing. There are challenges ahead, and rebuilding a life takes time. But she has a full-time job, a home for herself and her four children, and plans to explore educational opportunities she once struggled to imagine.

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Moving forward hasn't meant having everything figured out. It has meant learning to trust herself, accepting support when she needs it, and taking the non-negotiable step without knowing if the next is up or down.

Emily did the hard thing, and she survived. Thanks to the Family Center’s support of this brave mother, she and her children have the safety and space to thrive.

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Story by Elizabeth Baker