This is Janet.
At age 72 Janet found herself homeless for the first time in her life after being hospitalized and losing both her job and housing. After calling every agency she could get a hold of, she ran out of options and on her first day of homelessness called Church@thePark and was welcomed at our Village of Hope site that same day.
“Surprisingly, it was like instant family,” says Janet, a positively upbeat woman affectionally viewed as VOH’s community grandma who loves to read and knit.
“Being here not only kept me from sleeping in the streets, it gave me a chance to stabilize.” Today, she is going to view a potential rental apartment.
Janet, who grew up in southern California and moved to Oregon to be closer to family in 2000, says that her time at Village of Hope really changed her views about the houseless—who she use to yell at to get away from her house.
“While here I met people I would have rejected before and it’s changed my views once I seen they are no different than any body else,” she says “I didn’t know better.”
While Janet may appreciate the community she has found at VOH, it is VOH that benefits from the positivity of Janet.