Darcy

Darcy came to Families Forward when her ex-husband refused to pay alimony or child support and she found herself without enough food for her three school-age children. Darcy had struggled with finding a job, but Families Forward requires all transitional housing clients to have a job within 30 days of entering the program. With help from the career coach Darcy found a job and her case manager helped her find affordable childcare and the skills to build a life on her own. After only 9 months Darcy had a well-paying job, an apartment of her own, three happy children and the confidence to deal with the ups and downs of life.

Kimberly and Dave

We relocated to Orange County from the Midwest when a large, national mortgage company recruited my husband. We bought a house, enrolled our two children in school and all seemed fine – until the company shut down and my husband was laid off.

We had no family to turn to for help and, since we had put all our savings into the house down payment, we were in financial trouble almost immediately. Our oldest child developed a bronchial infection and since our medical insurance was lost along with the job, we went into debt with the hospital on top of everything else.

We had received an eviction notice on our house and were about as low as you could possibly be when we were referred to Families Forward. At first we though all we could get was food but the intake counselor was wonderful and we were lucky that a new home had just become available. My husband, who was ashamed and embarrassed and angry at not being able to provide for his family, broke into tears when he handed our counselor the eviction notice as proof of our being homeless. But now we had a house to stay in and a way back to becoming a secure, happy family again.

It was not easy to get back on our feet. We had to come to terms that we would probably not be able to have the same lifestyle as before – but my husband and I both agreed that we would rather have a secure home and stable finances than a new plasma screen TV. We learned to put together a plan to find new employment, how to budget, how to save, and many other skills. Importantly, we learned to value what we have and not to constantly struggle to get more – more “stuff” we really don’t need.

My husband and I are working, the children are in great schools and are prepared to deal with the ups and downs of life. I can’t say thank you enough to the people at Families Forward for all they have done for us. They truly gave us our life back.