Overcoming Obstacles

When Elizabeth first came to The Salvation Army, she was losing hope. Just released from the hospital, she’d come home to discover her electricity had been disconnected due to nonpayment. Her two children would soon return from her parents’ house four hours away, her husband was out of town with construction work, and the burdens of maintaining the household with inadequate resources and little guidance had caught up to her.

I thought she’d be an ideal candidate for Pathway of Hope. She met the program’s prerequisites and showed a desire to change her family’s circumstances and the aptitude to accomplish her goals. After hearing about the program, Elizabeth was enthusiastic to begin.

Many obstacles impeded her progress toward self-sufficiency. Her family of four—soon to be five—was living in a small one-bedroom apartment. She and her husband slept on the sofa, so the kids could share the only bed. Having grown accustomed to living without sufficient resources, she didn’t even recognize it as inadequate. With a recurring heart condition, she was not only underinsured but had lost her job on an industrial cleaning crew due to her inability to perform physical tasks. The loss of income meant she often missed meals which was especially troubling because of her pregnancy.


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