“Bye Bye Mommy”, I heard her squeal. The sound of the door opening and closing was powerful to me.
Just a short while ago we had no door to open and close. We roamed the streets, and as she fell asleep, I held her, and our back pack of belongings, wondering if today would be the day someone would come and take her away. For some people open doors seem to find them wherever they turn up. For me closed doors seemed to be the theme of my life. When I needed love, there was a closed door. When I needed support, there was a closed door. When I was trying to find stability there was a closed door. When I wanted to work, an employer would take one look at me and the doors were slammed in my face.
Yet there came a a day when a door opened. It was at Acres of Hope. I waited for the rug to be ripped from under me, and the door to be slammed in my face once again, but that day never came. Instead the door of hope was opened. All the closed doors I had experienced in my life had been opened. I found stability, support, employment, and a healthy life for me and my child. It was then that I realized it was time to close some doors of my own. It was time to close the doors of dysfunction. Close the doors of homelessness and instability. Most importantly, close the door on fear, so that I could leave open the door of hope and a future for me and my child.
At Acres of Hope, women and children are able to walk through the open doors of hope, transformation, and renewed lives, and close the doors on homelessness, trauma, and dysfunction. Acres of Hope is breaking the cycle of homelessness for women and their children with each opportunity that opens the doors to bringing them into a hopeful future.
To learn more about the open doors at Acres of Hope visit: acresohopeonline.org