Your kindness is leading Lynne out of darkness and into the light.
Lynne’s* childhood was so abusive and traumatic that it should come with a warning label.
She somehow survived that terrible time only to have more problems as an adult — including a stretch of homelessness in which her 9-year-old daughter was taken away by child services and adopted by another family.
By the time she’d lost her car and run out of money, a lifetime of trauma had left Lynne broken. “I didn’t have anywhere to go. So I called the Mission.”
Lynne came to our Watered Garden facility for women, which helps guests get back on their feet, equipped with the life skills needed for independence.
“I love this place,” Lynne says. “They are a wonderful staff, and they’re so supportive. There’s no judgment here, and I’ve never experienced that before.”
Lynne said she enjoys the programs that have helped her find an anchor in God and confidence in Christ.
She says one program, called “Changes That Heal,” teaches students “how to behave when you know Christ, and how to support yourself within the Bible.”
Part of Lynne’s healing process has been to unearth buried memories of her childhood — traumatic events that she’d never really worked through.
As those memories resurfaced, “I just bawled my eyes out for hours,” she says. “It’s so traumatizing when you’re 40 years old and you’re remembering some of the stuff that happened in your childhood.”
Nevertheless, Lynne considers herself “blessed” because of the help and healing she’s finding at the Mission.
“I have a social connection here,” she says. “I’ve never had a circle of friends around me like this. I was always a loner and never had any friends.”
Lynne says that if it weren’t for the Mission, “I would be sleeping in a tent with other homeless people in Kokomo. I’m so thankful for Watered Garden.”
Lynne finally found the help and support she needed because of kind and loving friends like you! To help more neighbors like her, give now.
*Name changed to protect privacy.