Life with a two-year-old can be a challenge.
"Want a piece of meat?" Karen Purscell asks her son Nas, "Yeah, it's good for you."
Especially when you're homeless.
"I just was overwhelmed with everything; he was five days old and something happened, we got evicted. I went to stay with a relative, they had their won family. We were there for two weeks and it didn't work out and they suggested I come to a homeless shelter and I thought me? Never," Purscell said.
That's exactly where she and her three boys ended up.
"I cried the whole way over there and was like, what am I doing to my kids? This is just going to affect them for life," Purscell said.
Inside the doors of the New Directions Shelter for mothers, Purscell found welcoming faces and a staff determined to get her and the family she loved back home.
"Usually they're in an unsafe situation," shelter director Tim Shanahan says, "They could be living in a car, they might be bouncing around from relatives to relatives staying one place one night, another place another night which is very unstable for children,"
The shelter itself isn't what you'd expect. Everyone has their own space in the home away from home setting.
"When I first walked in I thought, wow, this is a really nice place," Purscell said.
Less than thirty days after arriving, she moved into transitional housing. Now two years later she's almost ready to be on her own again. Shanahan is seeing a growing number of women in Purscell's situation.
"We're seeing a lot more working mothers or mothers who have been working that just lost their job or have had their hours cut," Shanahan said.
Of the 104 families the shelter took in last year, 80 percent were successfully placed in permanent housing. This year the growing need is proving a bigger challenge for Shanahan's staff.
"So far this year we're at 70 percent, so we've dropped ten percent in terms of the number of families we've been able to place in permanent housing," Shanahan said.
Purscell knows without the program, she'd have a lot less to be thankful for.
"We're here, we're alive, we're happy, we're a family, we're living in a home and you have to be thankful for the things you do have and you can't dwindle over the things you don't have," Purscell said.
"Want a piece of meat?" Karen Purscell asks her son Nas, "Yeah, it's good for you."
Especially when you're homeless.
"I just was overwhelmed with everything; he was five days old and something happened, we got evicted. I went to stay with a relative, they had their won family. We were there for two weeks and it didn't work out and they suggested I come to a homeless shelter and I thought me? Never," Purscell said.
That's exactly where she and her three boys ended up.
"I cried the whole way over there and was like, what am I doing to my kids? This is just going to affect them for life," Purscell said.
Inside the doors of the New Directions Shelter for mothers, Purscell found welcoming faces and a staff determined to get her and the family she loved back home.
"Usually they're in an unsafe situation," shelter director Tim Shanahan says, "They could be living in a car, they might be bouncing around from relatives to relatives staying one place one night, another place another night which is very unstable for children,"
The shelter itself isn't what you'd expect. Everyone has their own space in the home away from home setting.
"When I first walked in I thought, wow, this is a really nice place," Purscell said.
Less than thirty days after arriving, she moved into transitional housing. Now two years later she's almost ready to be on her own again. Shanahan is seeing a growing number of women in Purscell's situation.
"We're seeing a lot more working mothers or mothers who have been working that just lost their job or have had their hours cut," Shanahan said.
Of the 104 families the shelter took in last year, 80 percent were successfully placed in permanent housing. This year the growing need is proving a bigger challenge for Shanahan's staff.
"So far this year we're at 70 percent, so we've dropped ten percent in terms of the number of families we've been able to place in permanent housing," Shanahan said.
Purscell knows without the program, she'd have a lot less to be thankful for.
"We're here, we're alive, we're happy, we're a family, we're living in a home and you have to be thankful for the things you do have and you can't dwindle over the things you don't have," Purscell said.
