At 68, He Got His First Apartment

By Sheila Helgerson   He was 68 years old when he got his first apartment. Not his first nice apartment. Not his first apartment after a setback. His first apartment—ever. For most of his life, he moved between shelters, temporary rooms, the streets, and...

Progress Isn’t Always Loud

By Sheila Helgerson   Progress isn’t always loud. Sometimes it looks like routine, reliability, and simply showing up every day. Sometimes it looks like getting up in the morning, attending appointments, reconnecting with family, or beginning to believe that life...

What Balance Has Really Meant This Year

By Sheila Helgerson When I chose balance as our word of the year for 2025, I imagined something calm and intentional. A steady rhythm. Thoughtful choices. Maybe even a little peace. Recently, at a dinner with donors, I admitted that we hadn’t actually talked about...

SEVEN YEARS OF SOBRIETY AND HAPPINESS

On New Year’s Eve, R.B. celebrated seven years of sobriety and shared his story during a Narcotics Anonymous meeting.  Here is an excerpt from his talk. Seven years ago, I was living in an abandominium (a fancy word for a vacant house). My biggest worry was that I...

The Measure of Success

Earl’s Place case manager, Jim Carey is our guest writer this month. People love glory stories. You know the stories of the “homeless” person who pulled themself up by the bootstraps. They got an education, a job, a car, bought a house, and lived happily ever...

Celebrating resilience, smiles, and you

            I recently heard someone say that they wished we could have just skipped January this year.  I can relate at least a little. Maybe you can, too. I think most of us were hoping 2022 would be magically different somehow.  We’re tired. We want to get...

November 2021 – Monthly Missive

Erika McClammy, Board Secretary   I recently saw a photo that summed up my thoughts perfectly: One person named “Still Processing 2020” is running but can see another runner, “2022 in two months”, quickly gaining on them. If you are like me, you too ran in a...