“I had been homeless and an addict for a long time. I didn’t know what was going to happen to me and honestly, by then I didn’t care anymore. Everyone at Siloam cared though, and showed me I was worth caring for.” —Jessie
Jessie grew up in a small, remote community in northern Manitoba. She had dreamed since a young age of going to school to become a teacher.
After high school, she phoned her cousin who had moved to Winnipeg a few years before and was told that she could live with them for as long as she needed. It seemed all of her dreams were coming true.
But she arrived to a reality that was very different from her hopeful dreams.
Her cousin had become involved in an abusive life surrounded by drugs, and soon, having nowhere else to go, Jessie did too. She was living in poverty and struggling with addictions, but most of all struggling with the loss of her dreams. Circumstances soon found her homeless and alone, not knowing where to turn.
When Jessie first came to Siloam Mission she had been homeless for 4 years, she didn’t know what was going to happen to her; and most days she would say that she didn’t care.
She came for meals and shelter many days a week, but she was just surviving.
It was the day she found out she was pregnant she describes as the turning point in her life.
She had another life to care for, and she wasn’t going to let anything or anyone get in the way of her child’s dreams like had happened to her. Jessie connected with Siloam Mission’s Transition Services program where she was soon connected with long-term support providers to help her take care of her baby, a counselor to help her take care of herself and maintain her sobriety, and a case worker to help her to find a place for her and her baby-on-the-way to live safely together.
Today, Jessie has her own apartment with her young daughter, and is taking online University courses.
Disclaimer: Every story told in this annual report is real. But to respect the privacy of those in our community, some of the names, photos and personal details have been changed.
