Testimonial Page

"A Family’s Rebirth at Good Neighbor Center"

Ten years after coming to America from the Philippines, Mindy* had built a good life for herself and her four-year-old son. Mindy and her boyfriend, Peter*, had jobs, their son was in preschool, and they had a cozy apartment. Then circumstances beyond their control turned their lives upside down. Peter lost his job and Mindy’s hours were cut at work; they got too far behind in their rent to catch back up.

Peter was able to find another job and things picked back up at work for Mindy, but by then it was too late: they couldn’t pay all of the months of rent they owed. For two weeks, Mindy, Peter, and their son lived with Mindy’s cousins before being accepted at Good Neighbor Center. By then, Mindy was 8 months pregnant and still taking the bus to work every day.

Not quite a month after moving into Good Neighbor Center, Mindy was taken to the hospital to have an emergency C-Section. She delivered a healthy baby girl two and a half weeks early. Nurses took baby Maria* for a checkup and Mindy fell asleep.

What Peter didn’t realize at the time was that Mindy wasn’t sleeping; she had lost consciousness due to internal bleeding. When Peter couldn’t wake Mindy, he called for a nurse who called for emergency surgery. There was so much bleeding, Mindy had to have a blood transfusion. Nine pints of blood later, Mindy was taken to the ICU to recover. Mindy had to stay in the hospital for a week, and for two of those days was not allowed to see her baby.

Following her release from the hospital, Mindy had to come back to her room at Good Neighbor Center or lose it to another family and Peter had to go back to work after taking a week off to stay with Mindy in the hospital. This left Mindy alone at the shelter with her four-year-old and newborn while Peter worked his 10-hour shift.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Mindy developed severe depression and her doctor wanted her to see a counselor. About the same time, Mindy started attending the life skills class taught every week at Good Neighbor Center. The class taught Mindy how to keep herself happy and healthy and how to get through difficult times. Because of the things she learned in the life skills class, Mindy didn’t need to see a counselor; she was able to control the depression on her own thanks to the class taught at Good Neighbor Center.

Mindy and Peter moved out of the Good Neighbor Center shelter and into an apartment in December thanks to help from the staff at GNC. She is still stressed about the situation her family is in, but she is able to control the stress and keep herself happy. She is incredibly grateful for Good Neighbor Center and the opportunity it gave her family to save money and be able to start over: a rebirth for her family.

*Names have been changed to protect privacy

Due in part to the abuse at the hands of her uncle and beatings by her mother, Dianne turned to drugs. She started smoking marijuana at age 13, drinking at age 15, using crack at age 17, and started running away from home. Sometimes she landed with a relative, sometimes in a group home, but every time she was returned to her mother’s house. By age 28, Dianne had had five children, all while addicted to crack. Each of those five children were taken from her at the hospital and adopted by other families. Several years later, Dianne had two more children, but was able to retain custody of them; they now live with her at the Good Neighbor Center shelter.

"The Roberts Family"

When we first moved to Oregon, times were already proving to be difficult. Even though I was able to get an apartment, it would prove to be to much to keep up with. I am a single mother of two wonderful boys, never got child support, and didn't have any family support as well. I wanted badly to better our lives and get a degree so I started going to PCC. I had to first get my GED, which I did, then I started working on my prerequisites for x-ray technician. Well between work, school, and being a single mother trying to be home for her boys, the bills became to much of a strain and my oldest was rebelling. I was spreading myself out to thin and needed to be at home with my boys. I also had to do something before I got another eviction on my record. God knows I didn't want that again. I had no where to go and was loosing everything, my job, our belongings (although not much), had to quit school, and my oldest son was running away for the first time. My heart was broken and I was scared. I felt I had no where to turn and was on my own.

I called a help line and was told about the Good Neighbor Center. I put myself and my youngest on a waiting list and prayed we would get a call. My oldest son decided he wanted to stay with his friend instead of the shelter and I was ok with that because he really liked the school he was going to. I got a call about two and a half weeks later and was told to come in. I had no one to help me move anything in a very short time frame, so most of what we did have was now given away or thrown away. I went in and was approved to stay at the shelter. We literally walked in with one suitcase of clothes. While we were there, we were treated kindly and with respect. We did our chores and were glad to do so. I went to classes there during the day and also was job searching. My son went to a school close by the shelter. They had table of things to pick from that we were able to get clothes, toys and house hold goods to keep. I soon got a job at a salon and was working with staff to find an apartment for all three of us. The shelter payed for my deposit and when we left, we had a Uhaul full of furniture, beds, bedding, clothes, and dishes. My oldest son came home and I was thrilled!! The nightmare was over and we were all together. I was able to pay my rent and had confidence in myself again. We were mightily blessed from the Good Neighbor Center and we will never forget it. I have recommended GNC to many others I learned who was in some trouble with being homeless and alone. The staff there are SO understanding, and caring. They truly made a difference that we are forever grateful for.

Being back in our own apartment has been so wonderful. We have lived in our home for a little over a year now. A little over a month after being in our new home I found out that we were expecting; and 9 months later we had a beautiful baby girl. Like any family we still have our struggles. 10 months after moving into our home on October 7^th 2010 our 2 yr old son was diagnosed with leukemia. Then a month later is when I went into labor with our daughter. Plus we have a 8 yr old son. Throughout all this even though we know longer reside at the GNC the staff there is still very supportive and very caring. Even though we have our struggles with what we know now we are still making it. We struggle sometimes because between hospital admissions and chemotherapy and many different appointments it does make it difficult sometimes, but we know how to properly budget to where we know we will stay okay. And we still make goals and plan for the future. We are actually looking into buying our first home within a year.