Hope and a Home for a Family

My name is David and my family and I live in a beautiful home in the eastside neighborhood that is owned by Homes First.

Prior to finding this home, we were feeling pretty desperate. My wife and I and our three kids had spent the previous six months living in the shelter.

I know that many people wonder how a family like ours ends up needing to live in a shelter. I think we probably have a pretty typical reason – I lost my job and couldn’t find another one in the town in which we lived. However, I’ve been told that the rest of our story isn’t quite as typical.

We were living in Lakewood when I lost my job. My wife homeschools our kids, so we decided to move to find work. Not having a car, we packed up everything we owned—including our daughter’s therapy dog—onto our bicycles and headed out. I know that sounds pretty daunting: 500 lbs of gear, three kids, two adults, and a dog, all on bicycles, trying to find a job and a place we could afford to live. I can only imagine what the people driving past us must have thought!

We stayed at campsites and motels along the way and finally ended up in Capitol State Forest, where we set up camp as a base while we searched for shelter. We biked hard every day, and I was so proud of these guys.

I also decided that maybe I needed to start my own business, so I began that process from our new home-campsite.

We were in the forest for six weeks. During that time, I would bike to the library to get on the computer to work on my business and search for a shelter for my family—but there were no openings anywhere.

The last two weeks in the forest, it rained and poured. Our tent, clothes, and beds were all soaked. It was cold, and everyone got sick.

Finally, we found Out of the Woods, a small shelter run by the Unitarian Church for families with children. Their goal is to help families like ours move from homelessness to stable, sustainable housing. They connected us with Homes First, which just happened to have a single-family home that would be available in two months.

We loved it from the first moment we walked in. All sorts of people worked together to make it happen—it felt like a group effort. Everyone was so respectful and kind. They even let us help choose the color of the house so it would really feel like our home.

Now I have a job I love. We still don’t have the money for a car, so I bicycle there every day from the Eastside neighborhood. On my days off, I continue working on my own business. Ocean stays home and teaches our kids. We never expected to be in this situation. When it happened, we felt a moment of despair, but we kept moving forward to make it better.

Now we have a new home, new plans, and a bright future ahead. I am filled with joy every time I come home and see my kids playing in the yard with neighborhood friends—without a care in the world. Just the way it’s supposed to be.

We are all grateful for the support we received from Out of the Woods and Homes First. They worked together to help us turn a family disaster into a new beginning. This home was exactly what we needed to get our lives back on track. We can’t thank Homes First enough—and all of you—for supporting this amazing organization.