by Shar, former Hesed House guest
My daughters and I moved back to Illinois from Ohio in 2009 after my oldest daughter accepted a scholarship. At that time I began to seek full-time employment in the business/accounting field. However, I was only able to secure part-time employment. Since we were living with family, I took that opportunity to return to school to seek certification as an elementary teacher with an ultimate goal of teaching reading. While working toward my license I continued to work part-time. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, we were no longer able to stay with family and found ourselves without a stable place to live.
My oldest daughter, who was then attending Aurora University, learned about Hesed House and passed the information on to me. We went to the CRC building where we received information about the programs and assistance that was available to help us. We moved to PADS in August 2012. My oldest daughter lived on campus while my youngest daughter and I stayed at PADS until October 2012. At that time we were accepted into the TLC program. At TLC I was able to continue my search for a full-time teaching position, work, and begin the process for a master’s degree in reading. After much searching I finally obtained a full-time teaching position as a fifth grade teacher. This position has given my daughter and me financial stability.
We are grateful to all the staff at Hesed House and the MANY volunteers: Knox Presbyterian Church, Big Girls Dream Club, Harvesting Hope, The Light of the Heart, and so many more. The happiness and stability we have now is due to the kindness and support (financial, encouragement, spiritual, housing, etc.) of so many people. We can never say thank you enough.
The journey was very dark at times but truly we have found light at the end of it.
Former Hesed House guests (left to right), Shar, Fatimah, and Naomi