In the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative e-Newsletter, we usually include stories told from a mentor’s perspective.  Most often, we interview mentors and write about their stories: the struggles, successes and breakthroughs.  When mentors read one another’s stories, they remember they are not alone in the journey.  People just like them are stepping up and taking on the challenge of mentorship, too!

Juanita and her two daughters, Dajae (6) and Dania (4), in the living room of their new home

But it’s important to listen to mentees as well as mentors – those who have been helped and encouraged through FSHI and who, without caring community members coming alongside them, might well be living on the streets.  The voices of the formerly homeless remind us that mentors’ support makes a vital difference and lasting impact.

This month, the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative decided to interview Juanita.  Juanita is a young woman who is being helped by a mentor team from synagogue B’nai Havurah.  As a young single mom who had two daughters early in life, Juanita was unable to complete her high school diploma.  Consequently, she has had limited career opportunities.  Until last November, she was living with her mother, working full time, but unsure as to how long she could stay at home.  Juanita wondered and worried: how will I ever get ahead?  Will I ever be able to get out on my own?

Last November, an uncle told Juanita about the Family and Senior Homeless Initiative.  Juanita knew that this was the program for her.  “I went straight for it,” she says, even though she was nervous about meeting her mentor team.

Before her first meeting with them at a Starbucks, she had butterflies in her stomach.  Who were her mentors?  What would they be like?  Could they really even help her?  Once Juanita met the mentor team from B’nai Havurah, however, their friendly and caring faces quickly quelled her fears.  “Once I sat down to talk to them, they made me feel really comfortable.  They were really open with me, and they asked me good questions.”  The mentors swiftly made it clear to Juanita that on top of helping her financially with the security deposit for her new apartment, they were willing and ready to help her with the many small challenges she would face once she moved out on her own.

Dajae and Dania love to read for company!

The B’nai Havurah mentor team offered to help Juanita find a safe, suitable apartment.  Ultimately, she looked around and found one herself, but their willingness to help still encouraged Juanita.  In addition, the team aided Juanita in the process of getting her two daughters insured through Medicare.  Knowing that having a high school diploma would dramatically increase Juanita’s job prospects, the B’nai Havurah team helped her research GED programs.  They assisted her in compiling a budget.  Around Christmastime, they gave her vouchers for toys for her children.  Once her mentor team discovered Juanita’s dream of becoming a medical assistant, they helped her begin to research different programs.

When she moved into her new place, they told her to make a list of furniture, and they would help her find whatever she needed.  When she couldn’t find twin beds for her girls, she called them up. Her mentor team’s offers of help meant a great deal to Juanita. 

In helping her with all these tasks, B’nai Havurah mentors remind Juanita that she is not alone.  Though she’s raising her children on her own, Juanita has people who care for her and want to help her succeed.

Juanita exclaims, “[FSHI] helps you get on your feet, and the mentors work with your schedule.  The program provides you with mentors who can help you.  It was a new experience for me … to have mentors.  I’d never had anyone like that before.”

 “The mentors are really good people, and they help me with everything I need to get done.  They would be the first people I would go to if I ever needed anything, ‘cause I know I can call them for anything.”