Jonique Set Up For Long-Term Success

“You need a ride?”

Jonique heard that question called out to her as she walked down a road with her three children late one night in 2006. She turned and saw that a woman was asking the question.

“I was tempted to lie and say we were fine but just felt too weary to tell anything but the truth,” she recalled. “So I told her we had just been evicted and had nowhere to go.”

Since it was so late, the woman took Jonique and her family to the police station for the night. The next morning, Jonique started looking for different shelters and discovered the Orlando Union Rescue Mission. The children hadn’t eaten, so before they left a police officer took them to the station’s vending machine – the only food in the building – and treated them to whatever they wanted.

Along with the few belonging the family brought with them, Jonique carried a heavy load of guilt, anger, and grief. She had been abandoned by the children’s father, which ultimately led to the eviction that put them on the street. She brought all of this baggage to her first class at the Mission, the Victorious Life Program.

This two-week course introduced Jonique to the Bible and to the idea of having a relationship with Jesus Christ. The instructor suggested a special assignment to Jonique: read one chapter out of the Book of John every day, and then answer three short questions about each one.

“This got me hooked on the Word of God. I had never known anything like before,” she said. “It gave me the strength to start trusting God for the future and start healing from the past.”

The spiritual and physical provisions that Jonique’s family found here enabled them to face the rocky adjustment of having just one adult in the house. “The structure that’s in place here helped me learn how to establish rules for my children. They set you up to succeed in the long run,” she said.

After leaving the Mission, Jonique was blessed to become a recipient of a Habitat for Humanity house. “They had the home dedication on my birthday – it felt like a gift directly from God to have this house,” she said.

Jonique’s No. 1 job is supporting her family, and she also is enrolled in accounting and technology courses to advance her career.

“My children are finally safe and in a home of their own – it makes the struggle we went through worth it,” she said. “We have the stability that every family needs to thrive.”

Jonique’s time at the O.U.R. Mission Home gave her family the stability it so desperately needed. Help create more stories of life transformation through your support today. Each gift of $26.82 provides a hot meal and life changing care for a homeless man, woman or child in Central Florida!