Before learning that there was help and support in the community, my daughter Hannah and I were living in a foreclosed home with no running water or gas for over six months, until it became too cold to tolerate outside. We drove a vehicle that had no working brake lights, it wouldn’t go over 35 miles an hour and the trunk didn’t latch, so it needed to be duct taped shut daily.
I felt stuck and unstable, which is the worst feeling in the world when supporting a young child. After about a month of being homeless, I advised the YMCA membership director that my daughter Hannah would no longer be able to attend due to financial issues. Later that day, I received a call from the childcare director at the YMCA offering me a job. To have the opportunity to work and share my positivity gave me confidence to stay strong and work hard.
They advised me of Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Michigan’s Workers on Wheels program that they had heard good things about that might be able to help me with my transportation issues. I immediately filled out papers and wrote out an essay on why my daughter and I deserved help. I received a phone call the week after Christmas, saying I was approved for a donated car. 
My life has changed dramatically since September 2010. I’m going into my sophomore year of college, majoring in nursing. My daughter and I have an amazing, stable home. We now have a very dependable and safe means of transportation thanks to Goodwill®. A huge amount of weight was lifted off of my shoulders from the anxiety that used to come along with transporting my daughter in an unsafe and unreliable car.
What Hannah, my daughter, and I experienced wasn’t just being homeless, it was a learning experience that made us become humble, thankful and every day when we wake up we’re even more grateful to look at a wonderful vehicle to get into and go to work and school.
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