Recently, a very distraught young woman called for help with an eviction notice. An appointment was scheduled for later in the day, since the eviction was only a few days away.

When the thirty-five year old single mom, Beverly, arrived to discuss her case, she was already beginning to cry. The ensuing interview was frequently interrupted so that Beverly could compose herself enough to talk.

Recently, her husband of fifteen years had asked for a divorce, because he had found a younger woman who was “very much in love” with him. This announcement followed closely behind Beverly learning that their twelve year old daughter was ill with a very serious, (probably terminal) illness.

While trying to care for her daughter over the last several months, Beverly had been forced to take off quite a lot of time from her job and had recently been terminated.

Putting her pride aside, Beverly registered for food stamps, public assistance and unemployment. As a result, a very small portion of her eviction was being paid by a public agency, and Beverly also had a portion of the money. Happily, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul was able to help with the balance.

Unless some child support is forthcoming, Beverly will have a difficult time with her bills while she waits for unemployment to begin. In the meantime, relatives, including a grandmother in another state, are paying for her daughter’s medications.

We regularly see many cases involving evictions and some are extremely sad. Frequently, there are many factors which come together to create a very stressful situation which can result in homelessness. In the above mentioned case, a middle-class educated woman found herself very quickly to be vulnerable and almost homeless.

We are very grateful for your shopping at our thrift store and for any material or monetary donations you provide to the Society. We depend on you so that we can help the vulnerable in our community.

No work of charity is foreign to the Society.