Family Homelessness Is On The Rise in SA. Here’s How You Can Help.
Last Updated: 11 Oct 2019
COMMUNITY SERVICES
For homeless women and children in San Antonio, the Fairweather Family Lodge is a safe haven, community hub, and place to find new life. Here’s how you can help more and more families find hope again.
When she first arrived at Fairweather Family Lodge, Nina was desperate for a sign from God.
At 28, she already felt like she had survived a lifetime worth of hardship— poverty and domestic abuse, involvement in a gang, an abusive marriage, a tragic abortion, and a messy divorce.
She was a single parent working as a janitor, raising her kids in the projects amidst drive-by shootings and gang activity.
Eventually, when that job failed to make ends meet, Nina found herself battling homelessness with her children. She went to Haven for Hope where her caseworker told her about the Fairweather Family Lodge, a permanent supportive housing program for women and children.
According to the caseworker, the lodge would help her get back on her feet, welcoming her into a community of supportive friends and families.
It sounded too good to be true, but something within her told her this was the answer.
A woman of faith, Nina went straight to a church, donated $50 that she could not afford, and prayed fervently for faith. She had no idea what her next steps would look like, but she knew she wanted to provide a better life for her kids.
Nina believes that God answered her prayers that day.
When she walked into Fairweather Family Lodge, she caught a glimpse of a sign as she was making her way to the room she would live in. The sign said “faith,” and at that moment, she knew that God had placed her there for a reason.
“God is moving mountains in my life,” Nina said. She is currently working on a book called “Parenting in Poverty,” and she wants to open her own gym one day.
A chance for a new life.
Nina’s story is not uncommon. According to the South Alamo Regional Alliance for the Homeless (SARAH), the past year showed an 18 percent increase in family homelessness. This is mostly due to increases in domestic violence and increasingly unaffordable housing costs.
“The average time a mother and their child remain homeless before they become a resident is two years,” said the Endeavors® Fairweather Family Lodge Program Director Erica Martinez in a recent interview with the Rivard Report. “That’s two years trying to find out where they will sleep every night. Or how they will clean their clothes. How they will brush their teeth or keep up with basic hygiene.”
By providing valuable tools and resources like case management, professional counseling, life skills training, and employment opportunities, the Fairweather Family Lodge hopes to provide a safe, healthy, stable, and caring environment where families can get back on their feet.
How can you help?
As homelessness is increasing, we also hope to increase our program in accordance. Over the last 15 years, the Fairweather Family Lodge program has served over 250 families, or close to 800 individuals. Endeavors® is aiming to expand this program in order to provide these critical services to more homeless families in San Antonio.
If you’d like to donate to this incredible cause, you can find ways to help by clicking here!
Endeavors is passionate about serving vulnerable people in crisis, improving their quality of life in innovative, personal ways. Click here to connect with someone from our team and learn more about the many ways Endeavors® can help!
In addition to providing housing for homeless women and children, we also provide Disaster Case Management and Emergency Services. Additionally, we help connect military families to clinics, provide emergency staffing services, create long-term recovery plans, and far more.