Tenesha’s Story
”My home life was pretty crazy as a kid,” says Tenesha. “My mom chose alcohol over being a nurturing mother. But I always found a sense of normalcy at school.” From grade school on, Tenesha dove into books and homework, and she always made the honor roll. Education was her escape from home —…
Marshall’s Story
Last April, Marshall was cold, hungry, broke and alone on the streets of Milwaukee. He had just blown his last paycheck on crack cocaine. He hadn’t eaten in two days. Worse, after a 30-year addiction, he had burned every bridge to friends and family and had nowhere else to turn for shelter. “I was…
Christopher’s Story
Christmas doesn’t mean much when you grow up in a messed-up family. I learned early on that I wasn’t worth much. So I determined to make life all about me and whatever I could get. And that involved a lot of drugs and alcohol. Why not? Nothing mattered. I didn’t care about anything. So…
Rebecca’s Story
Rebecca was only a year old when her parents divorced. But she maintained a loving relationship with both of them — especially her father, whom she adored. In fact, after she graduated from high school, she moved to North Carolina to live with him. “The problem was,” Rebecca recalled, “my dad was going through…
Charles’s Story
I grew up rough on the streets. The streets and gangs taught me a warped version of what it meant to be a man. Money, women, sex, showboating, drugs, staying up all night, fighting — these are what the streets taught me a man was all about. Some of the kids I grew up…
Latiesha’s Story
All through Latiesha’s youth, she dreamed of being a pediatric nurse. She certainly had all the tools: “I had an amazing childhood, with two responsible parents who laid a very good foundation for me,” she says. “I was a good student, and I always saw myself in the medical field.” But then things changed.…
James’s Story
James finally hit rock bottom. Lying in bed at his brother’s house, coming off his latest crack high, grief overwhelmed him. Crack cocaine had cost him everything. His wife and kids had left him, he’d lost his home and car, and he’d spent every last penny he had on drugs. For one moment, he…
Lakesha’s Story
“I love the book of Job,” says Lakesha, a 29-year-old mother of three, living at Joy House. “Job didn’t do anything wrong, but he lost everything. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. And I can relate to that.” Lakesha’s mother, a drug addict, gave her up for adoption when she was 7. Her…
Paul’s Story
“I was a serious gang member,” says Paul, a 37-year-old guest at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission. “As an enforcer, I didn’t play around with no one. It was all about pain. I didn’t care who you were — family, friend, stranger — if you got in my way, it was bad. If you owed…
Jalissa’s Story
It was right after Christmas. Jalissa, a 26-year-old single mom, was so stressed, she couldn't eat, she was losing weight and even losing her hair. She had been struggling, experiencing times of homelessness, for almost eight years. She'd always been able to rely on friends and family for shelter when things got too rough.…
