A single mother moved to Mississippi last year and was involved in a domestic violence situation that prompted her to move herself and her 3 children as far away from the situation as possible. She has 3 children ranging in ages from 8-11. They were living with family at first, but had to leave due to housing provisions. Later, the family ended up living in hotel rooms. When the mother no longer had the money to pay for hotel rooms they ended up living in an old, abandoned motel that was no longer operating. Knowing that the situation would only get worse from here, she began to seek help.
A friend suggested that she go to Climb CDC in order to get re-housing assistance. At the meeting, she was given a few referrals to call in the meantime in order to have a safe place to live. Rebekah’s house was one of the referrals she received and we met up for her intake appointment and everything went well. She moved in the next day, September 9th, 2014. We immediately went to food pantries, being that she had no food or SNAP assistance at the time. She received a clothing voucher for herself and her children, as they had virtually no clothing. She enrolled her children into school, signed up for SNAP and TANF. She spent many hours on the computer each day looking for employment, attended job fairs, signed up at the WIN Center and went to the Biloxi Housing Authority to see about housing assistance.
Each family is given a list of agencies that assist with housing, deposits, food, employment, job listings, job fairs, et cetera when they move in and they are kept in the loop about any new opportunities that may arise. She did everything that she was supposed to do and it worked out for her in the end. She moved into her new townhouse on November 7th, 2014. With the money she saved as well as donations from different individuals, she has all of the furniture, appliances, and supplies she needs to make a better life for herself and her 3 children.