Posted 1:34 pm Friday, December 23, 2011
PATH Helps Family Move Into Home Just In Time For Holidays
By REBECCA HOEFFNER
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
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Nichole Leadon, like many of the clients that People Attempting To Help sees, felt she did not deserve the organization's help.
"It takes a lot for me to ask for help," she said. "I always said, 'There's other people who need more than me.' But Christina (Fulsom, executive director at PATH) kept telling me I deserve it. This isn't an embarrassing situation. This is life. This is something that should be told. ... I'm so grateful to PATH."
For Ms. Leadon, 36, supporting four children with a job as a waitress meant nights of sleeping in her car and staying in crowded houses with relatives.
At one point, Ms. Leadon only had $33 left for a month after paying rent with her disability check, she said. One of Ms. Leadon's daughters' school counselors at Robert E. Lee High School recommended PATH to the family.
"The thing with homelessness is you never think it will happen to you," Ms. Leadon said. "We couldn't have kept living where we were living."
Ms. Leadon and her children moved into a house provided by People Attempting to Help on Thursday.
PATH Community Homes owns 54 houses in north Tyler, which is only part of the services they offer. PATH focuses on five key themes related to poverty: prevention, rescue, stabilization, growth and independence.
In its focus on poverty prevention, PATH volunteers mentor children through the Kid Reach program. In its focus on rescue, PATH provides life's basic necessities through its emergency assistance program: food, utilities, rent, medicine, dental care, eyeglasses and hygiene items. PATH helps to stabilize those in poverty by offering low-rent housing, daily medication for chronic illnesses and seasonal items such as fans, school supplies, coats, blankets and Christmas gifts. PATH fosters growth by teaching skills for self-sufficiency: computer, basic literacy, money management, nutrition and parenting. PATH helps residents and families gain their independence by providing guidance and coaching to families working to become self-sufficient.
The PATH website estimates more than 33,000 Smith County residents are in need of the services.
"There is so much rent and mortgage assistance that we simply wouldn't be able to do without this (Shine Your Light) campaign," Mrs. Fulsom said. "Shine Your Light has helped us prevent homelessness."
To further their efforts to combat homelessness, PATH works with Gateway to Hope and the Andrews Center. A new veteran's home will open in the near future, Mrs. Fulsom said.
Ms. Leadon and her family began moving into the new house on Thursday, with many smiling PATH staff members helping.
"It's miracle on 32nd street," exclaimed Dana Taylor, PATH's Kid Reach program coordinator.
Ms. Leadon and her family are looking forward to spending Christmas in their new house.
"I couldn't sleep last night," she said with a smile. "Everything is a blessing. My grandmother always said, 'Every good thing comes from God.'"
