Siloam helps people make fresh starts

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/02/2019 (2516 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jessie grew up in a remote northern community, and dreamed of going to school to become a teacher.
After graduation, she moved to Winnipeg to live with a cousin, offering her a place for as long as she needed. It seemed her dreams were coming true.

But she arrived to a reality that was very different from her dreams.  

Her cousin was involved in an abusive life surrounded by drugs, and having nowhere else to go, Jessie was sucked in. She struggled with poverty and addictions, but also with losing her dreams. Jessie found herself homeless and alone, not knowing where to turn.

When she first came to Siloam Mission, Jessie had been homeless for four years. She came regularly for meals and shelter, but she was really just surviving.

She describes the day she found out she was pregnant as the turning point in her life. She had another life to care for, and she couldn’t let anything or anyone get in the way of her child’s dreams, as had happened to her.

Jessie enrolled in Siloam Mission’s Transition Services program. She met with a case worker who connected her with long-term support to help her take care of her baby, a counsellor to help her take care of herself, and assistance for her and her baby-on-the-way to find a safe place to live.

Today, Jessie has her own apartment with her young daughter, and is taking online university courses.  

— To learn more about how you can contribute to a Winnipeg without homelessness, visit www.siloammakeroom.ca today.