Chelise’s Story
Chelise always wanted her kids to have a better childhood than she did. “I grew up in an alcoholic family, surrounded by domestic violence,” Chelise says. “I left home at 14.” Chelise was forced into prostitution by gang members she met on the streets. Her pimp was incredibly abusive. When he pulled a gun on her and her son when she was seven months pregnant, Chelise knew she had to flee. A childhood friend offered to help them get out and flew them to Oregon without her pimp finding out.
Finally Free!
Chelise and her kids lived with the friends who had rescued them for the next few years while Chelise earned her GED, completed a nursing program, got a job and saved enough for their own apartment.
“Things were going really good for a really long time,” she says. “But I had never dealt with the trauma and everything that I had endured from childhood, young adulthood, and the relationship with my kids’ dad.” That trauma bubbled to the surface when Chelise was brutally attacked by two men outside her apartment.
She survived the attack, but the wounds it left on the inside didn’t heal quickly. The initial fear transitioned into a long depression. To top it all off, her landlord sold her apartment instead of renewing her lease. Chelise had no idea where she and the kids would live until she heard about UGM.
“My pastor’s daughter told me about UGM,” she says. “On the third day of calling, they said they had a room open and I could come with my kids as soon as I wanted . . . We each had a bag of our stuff, and I had my vehicle and that was it.”
The Healing Power of Love
The trauma and depression faded as Chelise and her kids began living a new life in our LifeChange program. “It was stable. My kids felt safe . . . Everybody was so welcoming, super inclusive,” she says. “Anything you needed, they provided, which was a big deal for me, being the main provider for my kids. If the Mission hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have been able to stay in program.”
But Chelise not only stayed in the program, she thrived! The Christ-centered counseling and classes your gifts provided helped her work through her trauma so that she and her kids could heal and grow together. “Meals were provided, our needs were provided for. They did Christmas for my kids, birthdays for my kids,” she says. “Anything extra we may have needed, we just had to ask.”
A Home of Their Own
Having their basic needs met allowed Chelise the time she needed to heal from all the trauma she’d experienced and become the mom she always wanted to be. Chelise – and her kids – graduated from LifeChange last December. This year will be the first Christmas they get to celebrate in their new place and they can’t wait! Their new, beautiful life is possible because of the generosity of friends like you.