Forever Grateful - A Letter from a UMOM Family
This success story was written by a family that recently left the family shelter at UMOM New Day Centers. To protect their privacy, we have omitted their names and photos.
My Family's Success Story
If I could scream with joy for the world to hear me, I would.
I could never thank UMOM and our case manager Sherry for everything that they have done for myself, my husband, our six children, and our bundle of joy on the way.
My family relocated from Flint, Michigan. We wanted a better life for our children. So we took a leap of faith and drove over 2,000 miles to get to Arizona.
When we arrived, little did we know that our journey of finding a home on section 8 located in Chandler was going to be such a painful process.
The first night we arrived we had just enough money to get a room. The second night we slept in our car. And for thirty more days we continued to sleep and live out of our cars.
What made this even more challenging was our two sons; Both of our boys have autism.
But then…One day, a lady from UMOM called me. Her name was Mrs. Sherry. She gave my family the news that we had been praying for.
She told us that our intake appointment was in two days and that this meant that we would no longer be sleeping in our cars. We would now be able to stretch our legs out. And we would no longer have to wash up at random parks.
We arrived at UMOM an April 3rd. We received our own room. And guess what? We even had a mini refrigerator. No more using the cooler out of the car as a refrigerator. We all had a bed to sleep in. We were given hygiene items and even diapers. We even saw a cafeteria that would feed us three times a day for FREE.
It was just such a relief. From then on, every week we met with Mrs. Sherry. In addition to my husband continuing to work full-time, the employment building offered to pay for him to go to truck driving school so that he could get his class A CDL.
Shortly after this, I got accepted into the medical billing and coding program through DeVry university. Things were finally starting to look up for us.
Throughout our stay, we saw many families find housing and move out. I was happy for these families. However, I couldn't help but wonder when our turn would come.
Mrs. Sherry worked diligently finding landlords and contacting them. Sadly, no one would accept section 8 it seemed.
Right when discouragement and defeat begin to set in, Mrs.Sherry called a private landlord. She not only spoke with him about the benefits of renting to a section 8 tenant but she also came in on her off day which was a Sunday to view the home with me.
The home was absolutely beautiful. Too beautiful for us I thought to myself. Deep down inside I felt that there was no way in this world me and my family would ever be able to live in something so amazing.
Weeks went by and after Mrs. Sherry spent each day going back and forth with the landlord, you wouldn't believe who got approved for this home? Me and my family…
Mrs. Sherry then went on to help us work out the move in fees for the home. She worked effortlessly, to make it happen for us.
Thanks to Mrs. Sherry and UMOM, three and a half months later my family and I will be picking up the keys to our beautiful home soon.
UMOM took me and my family in not knowing who we were and not judging us. They gave us opportunities to better our lives. Thank you UMOM for helping my husband and I achieve our dream.
Not even six months ago my husband and I were conversing about a better life for our kids. But it was here in Phoenix at UMOM that our conversation was made into reality. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you UMOM…
Forever grateful,
Our Family
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