The following account was provided by Rural Community Action Ministry (RCAM), a United Way partner. Your United Way donations support this program.

My name is “Letty” and I am being helped by RCAM. I am 55 years old and have been homeless on and off for more than three years after being divorced.

My life has been a struggle with several difficult situations over the years. Because of some bad choices on my daughter’s part, I had to become the legal guardian of my two grandsons who were 15 and 10 years old. I started the adoption process in 2012 and being homeless and responsible for these two sweet boys was a total nightmare. I was on the waitlist for RCAM’s Family Shelter for 10-months. I called the shelter manager every week to check on openings and did everything I could to keep my grandsons attending school in the Litchfield’s school district and keeping their grades up, all while enduring the stress of finding shelter.

I was so relieved and excited to finally call RCAM and be told they have space for me and the boys. We’ve been at the Family Shelter for a number of months now and I’ve worked hard with the shelter navigator to develop my housing stability plan. I received my Section 8 Housing Voucher and have been trying to find affordable housing close to the Gardiner area which will put me closer to some family and my ex-husband who is helping me raise our grandsons.

My shelter navigator has been a blessing--helping me deal with my anxiety and depression and both of my grandsons continue to have stress and anxiety, most likely due to all they’ve gone through before I received guardianship. Crystal has helped me see hope for a better future and how it can become my reality, not just a dream.

If it weren’t for RCAM, I might have lost my grandchildren because of being homeless. All three of us are safer and healthier since coming to the shelter and knowing we have help with all sorts of things—decent clothing, healthy food, and the support of people who care and listen to us. As soon as I can find a landlord who will accept my voucher, I want to find a part-time job in retail so I can move to the next step of increasing my income and becoming more financially secure.