Past Newsletters
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October/November/December 2011
October/November/December 2010
October/November/December 2009
“Volunteer interviewer Norma Ortiz (left) provides assistance to Ligia, Yaceina, and Marvin Booth in receiving a MEND food box from volunteer Santos Padilla.”Newsletters
Articles from the MEND Newsletter
Keeping a Family Together
Despite Homelessness
Nothing matters more to Ligia Booth than her family. So when she, her partner, and their three children suddenly found themselves without a home last August, their first priority was clear. They vowed that no matter what happened, “We were going to be a family,” she recalls. “We were going to stick together and go through it all together.”
Forced to live temporarily in their car, Ligia worried that their children—Marina, 12; Yaceina, 8; and Marvin, 5—would be taken away if she sought help. When a friend told her about MEND, she decided to take the risk and visit the MEND Center. Ligia was quickly put at ease by a MEND volunteer who assured her that her family was eligible for assistance. “I felt so relieved,” she recalls. “MEND gives you that ‘you can do it’ feeling.”
On her Tuesday visits to the center, Ligia picks up clothing for her children and five bags of groceries. If it wasn’t for the food, she says, “we might go without eating sometimes.” Though their prospects for long-term housing are still uncertain, her family has found temporary lodging, and she is now working toward a career in healthcare and a permanent home for her family.
Thanks to MEND, Ligia says, she has learned three important lessons about herself and her situation: “One, I’m still a good mother. Two, it’s OK to ask for help. And three, I will be able to get out of this and help others one day.”
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