Being homeless means not being secure, not knowing where you’re going to go, or where you see yourself in the near future. If you have to contemplate about having a roof over your head or a refrigerator to get food from, then you’re homeless. In reality, homelessness is far different than the picture most Americans hold in their head, such as a piece of cardboard with a plea for donations scrawled on the front, dirty clothes and plastic bags.
Homelessness is the child’s stretched out hand as he enters the car of a social worker. Homelessness is the tears that hit the sidewalk a mother walks on. Homelessness is the employment rejection due to a lack of clean clothes. Homelessness is a steel bunk bed in a shelter. It’s the tent beneath the bridge, or the blanket in the woods that are the best refuge for a women and her child to stay together.
Homelessness comes to the child who ages out of the system. It comes to the young woman who steps away from a toxic family. It comes to the mother who says no more abuse. Homelessness comes when another paycheck fails too.
Many of these families run to shelters. Most shelters serve as a place of temporary salvation and rescue for people on the street. The majority offer food, beds and bathroom facilities, but for many seeking resources, jobs, housing, treatment, mentoring and guidance a shelter stay doesn’t offer the time needed to build the stability or the ability to sort through root issues needed to not return to homelessness.
Yet at Acres of Hope women and their children do find the resources and help they need to break the cycles of homelessness. They have time, support, community, and the tools needed to step out and live as a renewed family that can thrive in society. Acres of Hope is not a shelter, it’s not a home for those looking for a quick fix to a lifetime of dysfunction. Acres of Hope is a place where women and their children get a chance to be seen, heard, and supported. It’s a place of stability and healing. It’s a place where God reaches out his loving hands and proclaims, you are home. Homelessness is a symptom of the root issues that often traumatize lives. At Acres of Hope we have a remedy to those symptoms: love, grace and accountability, and the tools needed to help families step out on their own.
Join us in the mission,
Visit: acresofhopeonline.org or Call: 530-878-8030