Let me tell you about a phone call I had last week.
CONCERNED MOM: I’m looking for some help for my daughter. She needs to move to Grand Rapids. Can you help her find housing?
ME: …Affordable housing is basically non-existent in West Michigan. You can’t get a Section 8 housing application. Once you do, there’s about a seven-year wait. Oh, and there’s a three-month wait for emergency shelter. And she can only stay there for 30 days, then, she’s back on the waiting list.
CONCERNED MOM: And she needs a job. She has good references.
ME: Hmmm. Well, she needs to get a job in order to apply for housing.
CONCERNED MOM: And she has three kids, ages 5, 3 and 1, so she needs childcare.
I wish I could tell you this is an isolated call.
It isn’t. Hope for Single Moms gets calls from single moms and moms of single moms weekly. The needs are similar–housing, daycare, a good job and HOPE.
HOPE that someone cares.
HOPE that someone will listen.
HOPE that this struggle won’t last forever.
At the end, I offer HOPE, a virtual hug and a prayer.
CONCERNED MOM: She’s not herself, not the daughter I know….
And after she shared her mother's heart, and the tears and fears that go along with it, I shared part of my story and my mother’s heart for my daughter.
Let God be God, I said. I know that’s hard, but He loves your daughter even more than you do.
Let me pray for you and her and your grandchildren.
So, how do YOU define success for Hope for Single Moms?
Is it by the numbers of single moms who graduate? YES.
Is it by the number of single moms we do career consults for? YES.
Is it by the number of single moms we direct to area resources? YES.
Is it by the number of area agencies and churches we partner with? YES.
Is it providing resources for churches and agencies working with single moms? YES.
How do we define success at HSM? It is by providing HOPE to anyone who calls us.
You can provide HOPE.
Join a movement changing the lives of two generations.