BY CINDY FISHER, Presbyterian Home For Children, Communication Director
The Presbyterian Home for Children has renovated several cottages on the Talladega, Alabama, campus over the last year to make room for more homeless children and their female caregivers in need of hard-to-find, long-term housing as part of our Secure Dwellings program.
With the expansion, the Home can now take in 24 at-risk families – that’s double the number of moms and children in crisis than before. And these families can come from anywhere in Alabama or surrounding states to live in our apartments and cottages and receive wrap-around support for up to two years.
“The Home has provided hope and healing for children and families in need for more than 156 years,” PHFC CEO Doug Marshall said. “Our investment over the last year will bring a great return as we strengthen families with love and key resources that will lead them toward a strong future.”
Growing the Secure Dwellings program fills a critical need seen throughout Alabama and beyond to provide more shelter options for homeless children and their mothers who are being left behind because there are not enough programs like ours. Our Secure Dwellings program is also one of few that accepts moms with teen boys, which allows us to keep families in crisis together.
Secure Dwellings places moms in apartments or private bedrooms with their children. Moms get support from the Home’s social workers/case managers who guide them toward gainful employment or education to help them become independent after the two-year program is complete. While living on campus, their children attend our accredited private school or the local Head Start preschool program through our community partnerships.
Secure Dwellings has been a godsend for moms like Temika Henley of Birmingham. She and her three children moved into an apartment at Ramsey Cottage in late Spring after living in their car for a month and a half.
Temika tragically lost her husband in a car accident three years ago, when she was pregnant with twin girls. Temika held it together for a while, working and raising three little ones alone. But she lost her job when she had to miss too much work taking care of the twins while they were sick last winter. Then she lost their apartment only to find the Birmingham shelters were full. So the family lived in their 2004 Chevy Trailblazer.
“I tried to stay in safe places, but we were exposed to the elements, gunshots, just unsavory people,” Temika said. “I couldn’t sleep most nights. I’d sit in the driver’s seat and keep an eye out.”
Then she heard about the Presbyterian Home for Children and the Secure Dwellings program.
“To God be the glory, (they) had a space for us, and we were able to come and find safety here,” Temika said. “This campus is so safe and secure and quiet and peaceful, and the atmosphere is just – you can feel the presence of God here.”
Today, Temika is doing great. Her twins are attending preschool, while her son is thriving at our private school, Ascension Leadership Academy.
To learn more about the Secure Dwellings program and how it could help families in need near you, visit https://phfc.org/family-services/secure-dwellings/ or contact Sharon Moore, Vice President of Transitional Housing & Family Services at [email protected] or 256-362-1438 x 1201.
To make a donation that will help moms in need, visit phfc.org/donate.