Empowered to Thrive: From the Shelter to Employee of the Month

This month we are celebrating our neighbor Perri and her remarkable accomplishment of being honored as Employee of the Month at the Midland Drive United Supermarket.  I remember meeting Perri outside of the shelter one cold morning in 2018. She was quiet and kind, but I couldn’t help but wonder what her story was. At the time she was working at the south side Walmart. Every day she walked several miles to and from work; rain or shine. Over time I started to learn some things about her. First thing she wanted me to know was that she loved Jesus. She always wanted to pray when I brought breakfast and I loved that. She also volunteered to help with the children at the Redeemer Sunday evening church service. She and a few other women staying at the shelter were waiting on a housing program and they were allowed to stay well over the normal 90-day time limit. It ended up being just shy of a year for Perri. It was clear that she was ambitious and driven despite her challenging circumstances. She worked hard and bought herself a vehicle. Then she switched jobs and went to work at a bar-b-que joint downtown washing dishes.

The other two women were accepted into the housing program near the end of 2019 but Perri was disqualified due to a technicality. Her name was on the deed of a mobile home that her family lived in, and even though she didn’t live there and couldn’t do so without a massive family and legal drama, she didn’t qualify for the housing program. She called me up and said that because of the denial, she would have to leave the shelter in less than a week. They had given her as much time as they could, but without an exit plan, her time was up. I started to imagine and dread this small sweet woman being out on the streets with no place to go. This was a critical moment for many reasons. Those of us who knew and loved her just couldn’t let that happen, so we all went to work to find a solution. At the time we were at least a year out from even beginning construction on our tiny home village, so I knew we were going to have to get creative. Before I could get anything figured out, Perri called and said that she had made a deal to purchase an RV and just needed some help getting it to an RV park. So, we trusted the Lord, and went for it even though we hadn’t initially intended to get into owning and maintaining RVs.

 If you can’t already tell, when Perri sets her mind to something, she gets it done, and despite the challenges of broken family, learning disabilities, and past addiction, she has some tremendous accomplishments including a BS in Sociology from the University of Southern Mississippi. She also spent several years in Seminary and only lacks a few credits to complete a Master of Divinity and a Master’s in Counselling. She wanted to be a missionary to the Native Americans in Montana and share the love of Christ, but a series of catastrophic events delayed her calling. On a personal level, Perri is a loyal friend and a person of great generosity and kindness. She loves her dog Harley and has a passion for helping others. That has been the common theme we have seen; when people are lifted out of homelessness and empowered to thrive, they want to help others. It’s really beautiful.

 Perri had a connection to an RV park so we arranged transportation and she became our very first Field’s Edge neighbor. We call our residents neighbors because they are far more than clients. Our relationships are beyond the typical transactions of landlord and tenant. They become our family, and our faith drives us to some very countercultural ideas about how we are called to love and serve our neighbors.

Perri has been with us over a year now and we have had the privilege to walk with her through lots of life: new employment, computer training, the loss of her mother, and more. She told us that it has been one of the best years of her life because she is surrounded by good community. She loves her boss, coworkers, neighbors, and TFE staff and we all love her too! Since Perri joined us, we have added 3 more neighbors and are currently working to add another. With the help of our supporters, we’ve been able to do all of this even before we have the tiny home village built. We have all grown much closer through this challenging year. We look forward to 2021 when we will be able to cultivate home for 9 formerly homeless neighbors in our first Phase and see even more of what people living in community can do.  

Perri is beginning the process to get her clerk certificate from Midland College and moving on toward her goal of being a counsellor. Because of her experience, she feels that she is being called to use her gifts and talents to serve those who have experienced homelessness. We are honored to be part of this beautiful redemptive story.