An Aunt’s Courage

A young couple with two small children had a stable life. They had jobs and rented a two bedroom apartment, but things changed abruptly when the woman’s brother-in-law died of an overdose and her sister returned to a drug habit that had dogged her for years. Unable to help a sister who didn’t want help, the young couple did what they could and took in her four teenage children. When a neighbor complained about so many people in the apartment, this young couple’s landlord gave them a bit of money and told them they had to leave.

With some help, they found a place to live that could accommodate a family of eight, but stretched thin with the increase in rent, they couldn’t furnish this new space. Gracing Spaces donated beds, fresh linens and towels, sofas and chairs, tables, lamps, kitchen goods, and some books and games the teenagers would like. Resident decorator Roz selected some decorative pictures to go in each of the rooms that the teenagers would be sharing. When the young woman came to pick up the furniture, with a catch in her throat, she said to Roz, “These kids have never had anything pretty on their walls.”

When you support Gracing Spaces, you make it possible for us to help folks in our community whose lives are unimaginably difficult, often through no fault of their own. Thank you for joining us in serving and strengthening our neighborhoods and bringing hope to those who need it the most.