ESCONDIDO, Calif. (KGTV) – Amy and her two boys are currently staying at the Interfaith Community Services’ low barrier shelter for homeless families.
“What brought me here is that I was homeless with my 15-year-old son and my six-year-old son,” Amy said. “They mean everything to me.”
Getting there came by way of bouncing from motel to motel all while Amy was battling cancer, doing whatever she could for her boys.
“I need my kids to be kids,” Amy sad. “And just keeping that in mind, that’s what kept me going forward. I will not lie. I was at the end. I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing anymore. I was out of money to get another motel.”
Thankfully about 30 days ago, Amy got a call from a case manager at Interfaith Community Services about coming to this shelter for homeless families.
“And by the time I picked them up from school, they came here, and they were just grateful to have a place to put their stuff and they didn’t have to pack it up the next morning,” Amy said.
The CEO of Interfaith Greg Angela told ABC 10News Amy’s situation is something that’s not uncommon.
“Family homelessness is growing at an alarming rate. And most of the families who we work with are homeless because of simply not being able to afford their rent any longer,” Angela said.
On Tuesday, Interfaith announcing it got a $5 million grant to help those homeless families in North County.
“We project that this grant will actually help 2,500 families here in North County,” Angela said.
It’ll help go towards the operating cost of the family shelter, rental assistance, and the systemic barriers those homeless families are facing.
“It might be a family that has gone through and fled a situation of domestic violence, and they can’t afford rent today to rent an apartment for their family. That’s not equitable that’s not just,” Angela said. So, we’re going to help that family get an apartment. But then, we’re also going to work systemically to make sure that families in the future don’t have the same situation occur.”
Giving these families a blank canvas to start over can mean a world of difference.
“When I was able to bring my kids in, how I felt because I didn’t know where I was going, I cried. I cried. And I just felt a tremendous amount of relief. I was actually shaking. So, I’m sure they’re going to feel relieved,” Amy said.
