I’m Jennifer, a mum of three children and I want to tell you something really important. Because I never want anybody to have to go through what my family has gone through.
A year ago, me and my three children were homeless. We were squeezed together in one small hotel room. Everything we had was in two suitcases. That’s how we had to live day after day. It was terrifying.
We had no family to turn to. I thought we were on our own. I didn’t think anybody cared. But I was wrong.
We had a guardian angel looking down on us. And that guardian angel was you.
You reached out and helped Focus Ireland. And today, thanks to you, me and my children are now safe in our own home. Our forever home.
I always promised that if we ever got out of homelessness, if we ever managed to cross that bridge, we would turn back and do everything we could to help others make it out. That’s why I am writing to you today.
Please will you make a special donation today
to help another family and give them the same chance of life that you helped to give me and my beautiful young children?
I grew up in foster care. But that was extremely tough for me. I became pregnant when I was 16 and a few years later, I was still looking for my home. I had three kids by then and I had lost another, my beautiful baby Clare, to cot death. My son Nathan, was in ICU three times when he was a baby. I thought I was going to lose him too.
How I Became Homeless
The relationship I was in was abusive. I knew it wasn’t safe where we were. Eventually I found the courage to take the children and leave. That was so scary.
We stayed in a women’s refuge then in rented accommodation. I was finally starting the process of healing and we were putting our lives back together. And then it was all taken away. Overnight.
The landlord told us he was selling. There was nothing we could do. I felt so completely helpless.
We had to go down to the council with nothing but the clothes on our backs to tell them what had happened.
That night they sent us to this small hotel. Just one room for me and my three children. It was affecting them the most. Conor stopped sleeping. Ellie regressed and started wetting the bed again. Nathan, my eldest, was too embarrassed and ashamed to tell his friends. That broke my heart.
I grew up with a feeling that something was wrong with me. Now I was watching my children go down the same path. I desperately needed help.
That’s why I thank God every day for people like you and for Focus Ireland. When we needed you most, you were there.
“We have no home. We’re homeless.”
Then I met Angela
The first time I met Angela, our Focus Ireland housing support worker, I’d hit absolute rock bottom.
Angela did so much for us over the next year. It was a year of sleepless nights and panic attacks. But Angela was always there to help and guide us. She even arranged a special Child Support Worker for Ellie. And she helped me get the therapy I needed.
And then one day she told me that our nightmare was over. And I got to say the words I thought I’d never say again.
Thanks to you and all the people like you who donate every day, Focus Ireland were able to offer us a home of our own. And it’s a Focus Ireland Supported Home which means we never have to leave and we will have the support of a Focus Ireland key worker for as long as we need.
Thanks to guardian angels like you all of our dreams have come true.
As a parent you want to give your children stability and love. You want them to feel safe. But you can’t do that without a home.
I told the kids “We’re going home”.
“No child should over have to grow up without a safe home of their own.”
This is how we’re getting on
When you helped to give my children a home, you helped to give them back their lives.
Nathan is studying and he’s joined our local GAA club. Conor has really started to settle in school and Ellie had her first ever sleep over. These precious little moments were never possible when we were homeless.
I want you to know that I absolutely cherish my home. This is the first place I have every felt I belonged. I remember the first gas bill we got. It was the first time I had seen my name and address on an envelope. I felt so proud.
“Jennifer and her family now have a home in a Focus Ireland Supported House. They will also have the ongoing support of a key worker for as long as they need.”
And thanks to you, Focus Ireland are still helping us every day. I am taking a course through Focus Ireland’s PETE training scheme. Now I’m hoping to study counselling and psychology at university.
My dream now is to help as many other families as we can. So, I really hope that you will be able to help today.
I will be forever grateful for all you have done for my family. That’s why I am asking you to give whatever you can today so Focus Ireland can help even more families.
Thank you for everything you are doing for me and my children.
Thank you for being the family we never had.
Please, please give whatever you can to help the families who are still trapped in homelessness. And help give them back their lives – just like you did for me and Nathan and Conor and Ellie.
With all my love,
Jennifer
Please will you make a special donation today
to help another family and give them the same chance of life that you helped to give me and my beautiful young children?