The journey towards self-sufficiency is not an easy one. It takes time, and often, one small thing can seemingly derail the progress that has been made. 

This has been true for "Anna." After her husband became disabled and they lost their family home several years ago, everything in Anna’s life changed.

When Anna first met with the Center for New Directions at North Idaho College over two years ago, she was homeless after being evicted from their apartment. Her four children were in foster care. She was devastated and desperate to create change.

She knew she needed to find a place to live and a good paying job, so she studied hard, earned her CDL, and soon found a good paying job driving a bus. She was able to find stable housing, which allowed her children to be returned to her care. She and her family were back together, and life seemed to stabilize, until her landlord decided to end their lease unexpectedly, sending the family back into uncertainty.

Anna applied for rental after rental with each application being denied. Her past eviction and poor credit stood in the way of renting another home. With her move out date quickly approaching, Anna’s worst fear of becoming homeless again was beginning to look like a reality.

Thankfully, the organizations that have walked closely alongside Anna the past two years know that the journey towards self-sufficiency includes bumps along the way. After advocating to a local property management company that Anna is worth the risk, a Charity Reimagined Referring Partner, Idahope Families, paid for her deposit and Charity Reimagined paid for her first month’s rent through Christmas for All Year .

At this point, things were beginning to stabilize when Anna’s car broke down. Her car needed more work than it was worth, leaving Anna with the only option of renting a car for $550/week. Although not sustainable, she could not risk losing her employment. Fortunately, she had built a small savings account.

The Center for New Directions turned in an application on her behalf for Rides for a Reason, not knowing a Ford Expedition had been waiting at Kootenai Technical Education Campus (KTEC) for the right family. Although Anna had the cash in savings, she chose to take out a loan to purchase the car to begin improving her credit.

Anna’s courage, resilience, and love for her family inspire. With the right resources, she is overcoming the hurdles and bumps in her journey to get out, and to stay out, of poverty.