Finding a new path forward: Briana’s Story
Briana felt like she had run out of options.
“I have to find a job. I have no place to go. I have my baby. I’m just trying to co-parent while dealing with the divorce and everything,” she explained.
Since the divorce, Briana had been living with her mom. That ended when Briana’s mom needed to move out of the area due to health issues. Briana wasn’t sure where to turn.
Everything changed when she heard about Home of Hope.
“I went in for an interview with Miss Renita and the rest is history,” said Briana. “I came into Home of Hope on June 17 and I’ve been here ever since.”
Home of Hope brought an opportunity for stability and healing, she said.
“It was definitely a place to heal,” shared Briana. “With the divorce, my mom being sick and not having a job and just feeling so much confusion with everything going on with my mental health at the time, Home of Hope was a healing haven. The first month was just for me to feel whatever emotions I needed and then allow me to get a job. It allowed me to have some stability for a moment after feeling like things wouldn’t be stable.”
Life at Home of Hope included its fair share of challenges, though.
“When you go from having certain freedoms to then having restrictions placed on you, you feel a little irritated sometimes that you can’t do what you want to. You can’t exist as you have,” Briana continued. “However, I had to realize that these restrictions were put in place with a good thought behind it of forming good habits.”
Some of the good habits she built? Learning to live on a schedule and on a family budget.
“Being here, we are on a particular food schedule, eating what is provided. Yes, we’ve moved into a house with pantry space, but there’s still limitations to that as well,” she said. “It’s also allowed me to pinpoint that I definitely do have issues with my spending sometimes. It’s been fun to watch my savings account grow.”
Living at Home of Hope gave Briana room to grow some of her dreams again, too.
Since she was a double major in college, studying local performance with a concentration in jazz performance and criminal justice, Briana has plenty of options.
“As for a short-term dream, since I’m at a legal office, my criminal justice degree is working for me. At this point, let’s see how far I can go!,” she said.
And someday, she said she’d love to buy a few acres of her own.
“I do have dreams of one day owning land. I love to garden and grow things. I want to have my little greenhouse and just be able to just thrive that way,” added Briana.
Briana credits Home of Hope for this new-found chance to thrive.
“[Home of Hope] provides a hope, a hope of stability. It provides hope of potentially building connections with other families. It builds hope in learning how to manage money. It builds hope in the small things of just being able to sit and watch your child play with the other kids,” she said. “I’m so glad I was able to find help and be a part of it on the receiving side. I hope to one day be able to help on the other side because I’ve seen and talked to the women and know that this is super helpful in every way.”
She also shared her gratitude to givers who make Home of Hope possible.
“It’s all possible because of the donors and the volunteers and everyone who gives out of their time and money just to be able to help provide us more stability,” she said. “When you’re in a [difficult] situation like this, kindness moves mountains.”