Erin and Mike

“As long as we’re together we are home.”

That’s been our mantra through this journey and it has helped us keep our faith as a family. Mike and I met in 2009 and over the years grew this beautiful family we have. We had Chase in 2011 and suffered a loss in 2014, Levi came in 2015 then Mikey in 2018. When COVID happened we had no idea that our lives would change so drastically and tragically. After painting and being in construction supporting our family for over ten years and working since he was a teenager, Mike got laid off due to COVID. I was working at Honeydew doing early morning shifts from 3:30 am to noon but it wasn’t enough money.  We were living in a two-bedroom apartment in RI above Mike’s dad.  It was Mike and I, Chase, Levi, Mikey, and our two cats. Then we added a cat in 2021 and a puppy Ash in 2023 to the family. Over the previous two years, we noticed Mike’s dad had started to get distant. We were behind on our rent and we knew that had something to do with it. When we got home from getting Ash from my cousin up in Maine we found an eviction notice on our door. His dad hadn’t communicated with us at all that he was going to do that. 

In August of that year we went to court and were evicted. His father didn’t even want the money we owed him he just wanted us out. It was terrifying and real and we had no idea what we were going to do. We went through a program in FI called rent relief where we could have used the money to rent a new place, instead we used it to pay Mike’s dad back. We took money from Mike’s 401k we had been looking for apartments but with Mike not having a continuous work history and me not making enough money it didn’t matter that our credit scores were decent because no one would rent to us.  Especially with three cats a dog and four kids, we tried to get a motel voucher from the state of RI and told them our situation, by that time we had also found out I was pregnant again and I was a mess.  We put our stuff into storage and we stayed in a few different motels for the next month. I had called the homeless crisis line multiple times a day to see if they had any placement for us. I went to multiple shelters, advocates, and every program that I was sent to. Between storage, the motels, food, and everything in between we were exhausting all of our funds, racking up our credit cards, and running out of money quickly.  In October we moved six hours away from everyone and everything we knew to Maine.  My cousin, we had gotten Ash from told us she had a place for us to stay and eventually an apartment to rent.  We thought things were looking up even though we were so scared of leaving the life and friends we knew.  When we got there it wasn’t what we expected at all.  There was no hot water, no heat, one bed, and the place smelled like dogs had lived there an never been let out because that was what happened.  As the days went on there was no sign of us moving upstairs and it was getting colder and colder with no heat. In the end Mike and I decided to leave Maine.

Mike’s mom and stepdad let us in with open hearts and 8 of us were in a two-bedroom apartment.  We were safe, we were warm, we were fed, and most of all loved and welcomed there.  We just needed to get on our feet again.  I started working at Bath and Body Works with Mike’s mom and he was working with UPS.  February vacation came and the office of the apartment complex found out how many people were living in a two-bedroom apartment and gave us two weeks to leave.  We went to Nashua City Welfare and we asked for help.  We applied for food stamps and housing and the wait-list for housing was years.  I had lost hope.  When two weeks was up city welfare put us in a motel and we were there for over a month.  I had heard about Family Promise through them.  I contacted them and went through the process of waiting for a spot to open.  I was also calling city welfare every day to see if any other shelters had availability and none did.  It was not a place I ever expected to be and once again Mike and I felt like we were failing our boys and future baby which we had found out was a girl! I was so excited but also so very stressed out and depressed.  I had to focus on the fact that we were safe though.  We were again fed and warm and we had to get through it and we would together like we had been.  We had an intake with Joanne at Family Promise and I left crying because the place was what we needed…enough space, a secure place to build our lives back up and I just hoped we would get in.  I got the call for the second and third intake and met Melissa and Minely and we were told they had a spot available and we could move in soon.  They showed us our rooms and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening.  We met the wonderful Pam who welcomed us with so much love and all of the great staff, especially Matt, who we all love so very much especially these kids here.  Then there’s Melissa, Minely, and Joanne who we appreciate and value so much, all of the volunteers who donate their time to feed our community, our family. We saw how life was going to change but it was going to be for the best for us all.  Change isn’t easy but as long as we are together, we are home remember?

The kids were going to have their own beds and dressers and so were we for the first time in so long.  We had a space that was ours.  We could actually grow and get back on our feet, our new baby was coming and it was the start of a new journey for us all.

Speaking of journey’s, May 13, 2024 arrived and so did our girl Journee Rae Anne. The greatest blessing through all of this pain and tragedy.  On that same day of Journee’s birth my grandma who I was very close to, passed away.  I saw and felt the circle of life right in front of me.  It was a day I have never experienced so much joy and so much pain at the same time.  I like to think they met along the way somewhere one of them coming into the world to be with her new loved ones and one leaving to be with her old loved ones she had missed. The months following have been both difficult and beautiful for me and my family.  Community living isn’t easy but it’s a blessing you can’t understand until you’re in it because while there are tough days there are also meaningful days and experiences.  Our boys and Journee have friends and we do too.  We have made progress and then fell behind and made progress again all while being safe, happy, fed, and warm, here at Family Promise.  This place, this organization, the staff, the donors, the church, everyone who makes it possible I can’t find the words to accurately say thank you for this opportunity.  This family, my family would be on the street in a truck if not for all of you.  The boys are all doing great in school, and Mike works for the union painting.  I still work at Bath and Bodyworks and we are doing everything we can to get our lives back on track.  The only way that was even possible was because of God and Family Promise so thank you everyone for being part of our journey and helping us along the way.  It means more than you know.  Through life we will always say as long as we are together we are home, and Family Promise makes it even more true because it is our home. Thank you again.