“It’s hard to stay alive out there, and too easy to die. Siloam Mission saved my life…and they helped me gain the skills I needed to find a job and move forward.” — Beatrice
Beatrice grew up on the streets. She has survived Winnipeg winters, battled addictions, and has lost countless people she loved to the harsh and unforgiving world of life on the streets.
“It’s hard to stay alive out there, and too easy to die,” she says.
The one thing she credits with keeping her alive was her relationship with her grandpa. She would visit with him regularly, and enjoyed sharing stories and laughing with him. He always reminded her to never give up, and told her that things would get better one day.
When Beatrice’s grandfather fell ill and passed away, she felt she had nothing left to live for. Without his comforting words of hope, she was losing her will to survive more and more each day, and turned to drugs and alcohol to numb the pain.
“I woke up in a back alley one morning and I was hearing my grandpa’s voice,” she says. “He kept saying to me ‘get up, my girl, you have to get up now.’” It was that day that she knew she had to pick herself back up, because that’s what her grandfather would have wanted.
She came to Siloam Mission to turn her life around, to commit to walking toward the “one day” when things would get better, just like her grandpa told her.
Beatrice continues to work on her recovery from drugs and alcohol with the help of a doctor, and is working through all of the many painful experiences of her life. She’s taking some University courses to explore what her future might be, and is participating in Siloam Mission’s employment readiness program, working on the Mission Off the Streets Team (M.O.S.T.).
She says that she knows her Grandpa would be proud.
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.
